Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

That is an interesting point to which we will come on another day. Members will see merit in the point I am making. Candidates in a Presidential election include a photograph and a short biography that appears on the ballot paper. There is no reason a full CV cannot be handed in in order that one booklet could be posted to each registered elector. Instead of four or five candidates individually sending correspondence at a cost of €1.6 million per candidate to each registered elector, let there be one booklet for the candidates, to be listed in alphabetical order, in which they could include their blurb. There would be one postal communication to each registered elector. We could try to be smart by sending it to each household, but I would not want that to be done. In a democracy each registered elector is entitled to receive a communication, given that not every person in a household will vote the same way and the communication might not be circulated to other voters in the household. Therefore, each registered voter should receive one information booklet carrying the details of the four or five candidates standing for election. There would also be sufficient time for this to be done in a general election, as the ballot papers would be printed in advance and it could be made a requirement to include a photograph of each candidate and their CV.

A booklet would be sent to each registered voter during the election campaign with the details of the candidates in each constituency. Given that a number of referendums will be held on the same day as the presidential election, a summary of the referendum issues will have to be distributed and this will have significant cost implications. As we have sufficient time over the summer to complete the nomination process, we could provide information on the referendums and the biographies of candidates in the same booklet. By sending out one communication rather than several, the savings for the taxpayer could be massive. I am all in favour of cutting €60,000 from candidates' spending limits but this is only Mickey Mouse stuff which does not even equate to 1% of the cost of the campaign. If the Government is serious about saving money on the election, it should amalgamate the material. It is a source of public aggravation that 30 items of literature are sometimes distributed to registered voters when one would suffice.

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