John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to support Deputy Doyle's Bill. I was under the impression that the polling stations for all recent elections had been open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. However, I did not realise that the hours were changed for the children's rights referendum and the Meath East by-election. It is a small but important point to bring certainty and avoid confusion. It will enable people to do the most precious thing that democracy brings, which is to cast their votes. As Deputy Doyle pointed out, it allows people in commuter areas and so on to get to the polling booths to vote.

I agree with some other speakers that considerably more needs to be done. For a number of years since I got involved actively in politics, I have supported the idea of weekend elections. I cannot see any reason for not holding elections on Saturdays. One of the referendums was held on a Saturday to test the waters. However, the only way really to test the waters is by holding a general election on a Saturday. Referendums do not do that because the patterns in referendums are totally different from those in general or local elections. Changes are also needed in how we deal with electoral registers and postal voting. I was not present in the Chamber when Deputy Tony McLoughlin raised issues about things that happened with the electoral register in Sligo-Leitrim in the recent local elections and people who voted and did not vote. I was amazed to read about it the following week in the Leitrim Observer. It needs to be fully investigated because democracy is very precious and everything should be done to ensure it is carried out in a transparent and accountable way. Some countries even have compulsory voting.

I very much support the Bill and I suggest that many other things should also be done. I nearly fell off my chair listening to Deputy Cowen, for whom I have good respect, talking about the Government's lack of reform. I was only elected in 2007, but I have followed events during all those years and I have doubts about the credibility of his party. It has a Bill to build democracy from the bottom up. In the past 20 years it destroyed it from the top down. The son of the late Tom Gilmartin appeared on a recent "Late Late Show". Based on the picture that painted of how the country was run over those years, it was not political reform that was being practised in those years, but political corruption. I will leave it at that, but I was absolutely astounded.

It is a pity to raise that in a debate like this. We are here on a Friday because of some political reform that has been carried out. We can argue that all sides make mistakes and may not do enough or whatever it is. However, it ill behoves people who destroyed many systems to criticise others for not totally reforming it in three years.

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