Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)

Like most other Members I, too, welcome this legislation which is by no means earth shattering. It was obvious it would be introduced in respect of the forthcoming local election given its success when introduced some years ago in regard to general elections.

This is an enormous undertaking locally in that it places a fair amount of responsibility on Accounting Officers which, I assume, if the issue is addressed on the same basis as Dáil constituencies, each county council area will now have to identify. Colleagues on both sides have spoken about whether the upper limit of €15,000 is too great. I do not believe, from my experience of the east Galway constituency, that too many candidates will spend that amount of money. I genuinely believe it is quite high. I am not sure if, prior to when it became law for people to declare what they were spending, people spent that amount. The sum of €15,000 for a county council election is a fair amount.

I wish to bring to the attention of the Minister of State a technical matter which might, perhaps, be addressed by the Minister or Minister of State when replying later. The Minister's script stated that a proportion of the amount could be assigned to the national party, as is the case in respect of general elections. I would like to know if it will be possible to vary the amount. I recall 10% or 12% being mentioned in this regard. It is important this can be done. We are all aware of the enormous role of television in local or general elections and the desire of parties and candidates to get their messages out globally. In his reply, I would like the Minister to explain whether or not there is a certain degree of flexibility concerning the balance between what is spent in county council areas and what can be assigned to parties nationally. That is important because the limits can easily be breached during a general election. As soon as one breaches such regulations, one's name will eventually appear in the newspaper, even though most people do not set to do so deliberately. That point should be qualified.

There is no doubt that some members of the public genuinely believe that political posters should not be allowed, although I do not agree with that. Despite all the other types of technology, in fairness to new candidates, if they are not easily identifiable they have no hope of being elected. Given that they are unlikely to be on television and the fact that up to now local radio stations have not been able to carry party political promotions, the role of posters is important even in this day and age. The same can be said for photographs of candidates in local newspapers. That is not to say, however, that we should litter the whole place with posters. The cost of posters will ensure that will not happen anyway. A standard-sized poster costs between €10 and €12 these days. In addition, posters must be erected and taken down, which adds to the initial cost. Therefore some posters may cost €20 each by the time an election is over. Despite the huge cost involved, I would not like to think that anyone would want to outlaw them. It would not be fair to do so. In any case, I do not believe most members of the public want that to happen.

In fairness to the Minister, some positive steps have been taken to ensure that the register of electors is kept up to date. Whatever the reason, however, there are many black spots around the country which nobody seems to be able to get a handle on. There is not much trouble with the rural areas, but there are difficulties in towns and cities where many people are not on the register. I will not go into the matter in detail because I am going off at a slight tangent from the Bill. Nonetheless, it is disconcerting for people who want to be on the register but do not appear on it. This is not what democracy is about.

The outreach programme was developed by the Ceann Comhairle. I see outreach officers in action in schools in my constituency and it is a good concept. I would like to think it would continue in whatever form is deemed relevant. Given the discussions I have had with my colleagues in secondary schools in recent times, I believe the outreach programme is the right step forward. I am surprised at the level of interest in the programme and I hope the concept will continue.

Having spent many years as a member of Galway County Council, I believe there will have to be a major shake-up in the local authority system. I am sure the day will come for us to have a chance to discuss this in greater detail. The county manager and director of services have important roles. In most counties, they meet on Monday mornings to plan the activities of the coming week. It is a co-ordinated venture because local authority work is a big business now. I could never understand why the chairperson of a council is not part of that planning discussion. One may say it is an executive role, but the sooner we move towards that, even in a semi-permanent manner, the better. On behalf of the electorate, the elected chairperson of a local authority should be present at such meetings with the professionals involved. I see no reason why that could not happen. It is only one small step but if it happened it would be significant.

Deputy Kelly mentioned the printing of posters. I sincerely hope that we have now arrived at the stage of having a buy Irish campaign, given all the problems we have in this country. I have always found that in the run up to an election, be it local or national, somehow or other printers seem to add on a few extra euro. I hope that when we buy Irish posters we will get good value. We have the technology to do so. Everything else has taken a knock on the head, so I hope that the cost of election posters will not be prohibitive. There should be a fair bit of competition between the various firms involved. We should spend all this money wisely for the benefit of our own print workers.

I hope there will be a degree of flexibility in introducing this legislation. It is new and will take many people a while to get used to. I hope the channels of communication between the Department and the electoral commission on the one hand, and the candidates and their agents on the other, will include flexibility also. There should be a fair amount of two-way communication so that somebody will meet the candidates and their agents. They deserve that at least. The situation may look simple enough but when it is in print as a result of this Bill going through it will be very difficult to understand.

See this speech in context