Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Whatever about suggesting 20 years ago that Friday, Saturday or Sunday should be considered, it would take a long time to convince me of that argument now. I am in favour of everything that can be done to improve participation in elections and to educate and explain the matter to people by means of civic education programmes. It is important that we do everything we can to achieve a democratic buy-in. The task force on active citizenship believes it is important to persuade people to care about the democratic system and their participation in it. The active citizenship office will work hard with the relevant Departments and agencies to follow up on these recommendations.

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