Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an mBille seo agus an obair atá déanta ag an Teachta Ó Cuív chun an Bille seo a ullmhú. Tá sé ag smaoineamh agus ag labhairt faoin ábhar seo ar feadh na blianta agus táim sásta go bhfuil an Rialtas ag glacadh leis an mBille.

I commend Deputy Ó Cuív on his preparation of and work on this Bill and on his interest in the issue. As the Minister stated, there will be a need to introduced amendments on Committee Stage in respect of the fact that the Bill does not provide for the discontinuation of early voting in the case of European and local elections. Obviously, the central premise behind allowing early voting was weather conditions and the view that ballot boxes had to be returned to constituency count centres by 9 a.m. on the morning following polling day.

That is the reason these things were introduced all those years ago.

As Deputy Ó Cuív stated, there have been improvements in the ferry services to the islands in recent years, notwithstanding what has happened recently - I will mention that in a minute. Obviously, Deputy Ó Cuív made considerable investment when he was a Minister. I am happy the Government has been able to allocate €8 million for Inis Oírr, starting with an allocation of €2 million in 2017. The Taoiseach has taken a great interest in that project and wants to go there for the turning of the sod as soon as possible. We must remember the Galway County Council director of services Liam Gavin who died tragically recently. I know he had overall responsibility for the area of roads, transportation and the marine.

Same-day voting has taken place on the islands off the Cork coast for some years. On the islands off the coast of Galway, Mayo and Donegal, polling has taken place on the day before polling day in the most recent elections, February's general election, the 2015 referendums and the 2014 local and European Parliament elections. This is a sensible change to reflect the modernisation of transportation services.

I was interested in some of the points Deputy Calleary raised about the quality of polling stations. There are often newspaper notifications of a number of polling stations that are not accessible and wheelchair users need to go elsewhere, which given all the regulations in this day and age should be ruled out. It is also eminently sensible to have basic outdoor lighting at any polling stations. Obviously, most of the polling stations are schools and I would have thought they would have had such lighting irrespective of their use as polling stations as they are also used for public meetings, get-togethers, playing 25 or whatever goes on there. Perhaps the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, can take that up. As part of Deputy Ó Cuív's original CLÁR programme there was investment in school flashing lights and the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, made further announcements recently.

On the issue of the peann luaidhe and electronic voting, I believe someone in Russia once said that it was not the people who vote that matters, but the people who count the votes. Irrespective of whether that is the case, in certain counties in Wisconsin where there was electronic voting there was a higher vote for the winning candidate than there was in counties that did not use electronic means. I have my suspicion about it, but I think our system works well in that regard.

Regarding Deputy Gallagher's comments on the islands, clearly there is a need for extra funding and I was pleased to be able to allocate €600,000 from the Department to improving roads on our islands and I hope to be able to continue that into the future.

There has been some commentary about the situation in Inis Mór. It was not a lack of money or anything in my Department that resulted in the cancellation of the ferry. The Department does not have a contract because it was negotiated that the operator was to provide a service to that island without a subsidy because it is a profitable route. Without going through all the history, the issue related to charges and running costs by Galway County Council on the new pier. Thankfully, talks I had with the CEO, Kevin Kelly, the operators and Bertie Ó hAinmhire from an Roinn Ealaíon, Oidhreachta, Gnóthaí Réigiúnacha, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta resulted in the ferry continuing until 4 January. The talks will resume on Friday to try to solve something that has been kicked around and has gone through the courts for a number of years with Galway County Council. Nothing that an Roinn Ealaíon, Oidhreachta, Gnóthaí Réigiúnacha, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta did resulted in the loss of the ferry to Inis Mór.

However, we need to ensure that it does not happen in the future and the islanders get the service they deserve and get certainty on a winter service. From 2017 on, we will explore grouping the three islands under one contract - irrespective of whether it is PSO. In the new year, God willing, I intend to initiate a discussion process with the island communities to see what their wishes are regarding the services for the three Aran Islands. The existing contracts for Inis Oírr and Inis Meáin conclude at the end of October 2017. As we will have to start a process for them, we will see about amalgamating the three islands under one contract.

The air service has been mentioned. The Office of Government Procurement is in the process of examining tenders. I expect a recommendation to my Department regarding a contract very soon. I know there is ongoing communication between the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of Government Procurement. I expect letters to go to the successful and non-successful tenderers shortly.

There have been other developments. Obviously, there is a helicopter service to Tory. The former Minister of State, Dinny McGinley, put funding into a new helipad, which I believe will be complete with lighting provided in the new year. We hope to have an official opening of that and we were happy to accommodate an improved service there in conjunction with the HSE whereby there was a service once a fortnight in the winter, which has now been increased to once a week. That is a welcome development.

The premise of Deputy Ó Cuív's Bill is that islanders should have the same rights as those elsewhere with which I agree. I know that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, has a great grá for the seas as Deputy Ó Cuív pointed out. When this Bill came before the Minister and he discussed it with me, he was certainly of the view that it should be accepted. Perhaps other Ministers were not of the same view, but they might not have the same feel for the situation as has the Minister, Deputy Coveney.

I certainly welcome the Bill. Will there ever be problems? Will a ballot box ever be late from here on in? I cannot say. As Deputy Gallagher said, if it results in the start of a count being delayed by an hour or so, so be it; we can live with that. The premise the Bill is to give islanders certainty in knowing when an election is called that they will be voting on that day and not a day or two days beforehand, which is right and proper. I welcome it and congratulate Deputy Ó Cuív on initiating it.

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