Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I did not say I had no interest.

10 o’clock

I said a commission is being set up, and that will have the opportunity to examine the entire area. Something it should examine is whether there are alternative locations but in terms of the places in my constituency where voting takes place, I am not sure if there are alternative locations in every area for the number of polling booths that would be needed. For example, where I vote there are at least five polling stations within the one school. In terms of finding an alternative location where I live, I cannot think of any alternative to the school but I hope that will be an issue that can be examined.

Allowing polling to take place on a Saturday is probably a more viable alternative but that may pose a difficulty. It may have been the subject matter of the recent referendums but there was a turnout of 33% for one while the turnout for the other was 60%. I acknowledge there was a higher turnout for the marriage referendum than would normally be expected for a referendum but it may be more viable to consider using Saturdays as a date for referenda. That would be my personal opinion.

I understand my predecessor also spoke to the then Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government about the issue of identifying alternative venues and it is something I will certainly follow up on but there is not an easy answer to that because we have to achieve a balance between wanting people to have their democratic opportunity to vote and ensuring that children are not taken out of school unnecessarily. It is about getting that balance right, but there is not an easy answer to it.

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