Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Mac Lochlainn and the others who compiled this report. It is interesting, and nothing much was left out. It is very specific, given the subject matter, about both ballot papers. It firmly states, with regard to the level of confusion about the Seanad ballot paper, that 55% of those who voted found it quite or very difficult to understand. On the Court of Appeal ballot paper, 47% of people who, I presume, cast their votes and were surveyed found the ballot paper quite or very difficult.

The question of what is the correct thing to do about referendums was raised. I am not the only one who followed what happened in the Scottish referendum. It is my contention that if what happened in this referendum had happened in Scotland, there would have been a second referendum. This would and could not have been tolerated. People who cast their votes on two ballot papers, each dealing with a single issue, are smart enough. We are not back in the Stone Age. Irish people have sufficient common sense to be able to work those things out. The Parliament caused this confusion; about that there is no doubt. There is no point in pretending otherwise.

The Minister of State referred to the young people in the Visitors' Gallery. They were probably scratching their heads and wondering how the people who are running the country cannot even produce a ballot paper. We did produce one, but we sent people all over the shop. Everything about it was wrong. Deputy Ó Snodaigh is perfectly correct about the typesetting and so on. Mischievous people would say it could have been done deliberately. I do not wish to end up in jail so I will not express an opinion like that, but a lot of people outside the House have their own opinions.

We have tolerated the outcome of the vote, but the Scots would not have, and I have no doubt whatsoever that Scotland would have rerun the referendum. I am happy to express my point of view. Let us be honest. Some people do not want to hear this, but during the referendum campaigns a lot of people said one thing in public while lobbying in private for the retention of the Seanad. I have no doubt about that whatsoever. It happened across all parties, mine included. The political establishment wanted to retain the Seanad and I do not need to go into the reasons for that. People can work it out themselves.

With regard to the things that caused confusion among the voters surveyed, I alluded to two figures, but it gets worse than that. Deputy Mac Lochlainn highlighted the number of spoiled votes. The figure is unbelievable, given the fact that 61% of the people stayed at home. Things have changed a lot in terms of the public's perception of politicians in this country. We still ask what the turnout was, but I do not do so any more. I talk about the other figure because it is larger. People say how precious the Constitution and the Upper House are, but if they are so precious why did they not turn out to vote?

The report is very good and a necessary part of the process. In fairness to Deputy Charles Flanagan, now the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, he was the first to acknowledge what had happened. Well, I think he was the first; no doubt Deputy Mac Lochlainn will correct me. I should have done the same myself. If you are beaten you are beaten - go on home and have a cup of tea. Deputy Flanagan was spot on, and he initiated the whole process.

Having these discussions is an important part of a democracy. That is how we learn. I do not know how much we have learned, but we are not Scots so we will carry on into the future.

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