Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Provisions for the layout of the ballot paper for Dáil elections are set out in section 88 of the Electoral Act 1992, as amended. Over the years, many suggestions have been made for change to the format and layout of ballot papers. These include blacking or shading the empty emblem box for non–party candidates and the use of the word "independent" instead of "non-party". The Convention on the Constitution, in its fourth report, recommended changing the alphabetic order of candidates. We have been down this road before. The proposed electoral commission will be asked to give further consideration to the proposal, as the Deputy may be aware. I have published a consultation paper on the establishment of an electoral commission and it is currently the subject of a process of consultation, under the aegis of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht, which I expect to report to me.

Everybody in the House has an opinion on this matter. I am not sure if there is an absolute right or wrong. I have no plans to alter the layout of the ballot paper in advance of the by-election. The Deputy has expressed his views on this before, and if we receive some initial thoughts on it, we may consider something before the forthcoming general election. However, I am loth to change the ballot paper unless I see some real, qualified justification for doing so. To date, we have heard various different opinions. It is through the commission that we will get the solution to this issue, if changes are necessary at all.

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