Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)

I had not thought about it. The right to cast one's vote is important. I asked the ferryman providing a service to Arranmore Island to tell me the number of days during the course of last year he was unable to get in and out of the island. He put it to me that he was able to get in and out of the island every day last year. That is the norm. The practice of having a different day for voting on the island can be a problem. I realise there are smaller islands without proper piers and so on but we should examine that problem.

Another issue is the option of automatic registration and especially the provision of registration days in colleges. Simple measures could be carried out. There is much talk of political reform and cutting the number of Deputies. Among the most effective things we could do are to allow people to register up until the day of the vote, with appropriate safeguards in place; have registration days in colleges; and get the Garda to go into colleges on certain days to register people for postal votes. At present, the timeframes involved are too tight and cumbersome and people are unable to get to Garda stations on time. I call on the Minister to deal with the issue of postal votes in rural areas whereby one must go to a Garda station but where the Garda station is only open for a number of hours. This is causing people to be unable to register on the supplementary register and for a postal vote and they are being disenfranchised as a result.

I welcome the fact the Minister is legislating in respect of by-elections. I do not welcome the proposed reduction in the number of Deputies because it does not lead to political reform. If the Minister intends to push through this legislation and if he succeeds in attaining a reduction of approximately 14 Deputies, since there will be empty chairs he may consider allowing northern representation. We could fill the gaps with representatives from the North, as agreed at the time of the Good Friday Agreement.

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