John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Clare Daly for raising the issue, which is of interest to us all. As well as voting and participating on Friday, watching social media I would have seen some of the reports the Deputy mentions.

The primary role of the Department in electoral matters is to provide an appropriate policy and legislative framework for a modern and efficient electoral system. Within that framework, local Returning Officers in each constituency are responsible for all matters in connection with the actual conduct of elections and referendums, including the selection, appointment and training of polling station staff in accordance with the relevant provisions of electoral law.

Under electoral law it is an offence to interfere with or obstruct or impede an elector going to or coming from, or in the vicinity of, or in, a polling station.

Electoral law also prohibits canvassing in any form in the polling station, in the building containing the polling station, in any grounds attached to, or in the curtilage of, the building and within 50 m of any entrance to such grounds or such building, or within 50 m of its curtilage.

It prohibits any form of canvassing, including congregation or loitering by persons, display of posters or distribution of leaflets or cards. It also prohibits the use of any loud-speaker within the area in which the prohibition applies.

Guidance issued to local Returning Officers by the Department in advance of electoral events advises that they should ensure that presiding officers are aware of these provisions and of their duty to ensure that they are complied with within the polling station, the building containing the polling station, its grounds and at any entrance to the polling station or grounds. In particular, presiding officers should have checks made through the day to ensure that the prohibitions are being observed.

The Department’s guidance further advises that the presiding officer should also ensure that posters are not displayed within the polling station or the building where it is situated, or its grounds or on the railings or walls of the grounds.

The enforcement of these provisions is a matter for An Garda Síochána. The presiding officer is advised to co-operate with the gardaí and ensure, as far as possible, that the provisions are complied with in the polling station and its grounds and should bring any breaches, whether within or outside the grounds, to the notice of the Garda.

Further to that official response, I have been aware on many occasions over the years of situations where posters are too close and upon being brought to the notice of the presiding officer in the stations and gardaí, they have always been removed. That is the law. That should have been implemented on this occasion.

According to reports I received from across the country, generally speaking, there was positive action taken to remove posters that were within that 50 m curtilage. In relation to iconography and the broader issue of where polling stations should be, the legislation places the responsibility quite clearly on the local Returning Officer to decide on the location as well as the staff and the training. However, it has been the case over the past few years, and I believe it should continue to be the case, that in places where a suitable non-school facility exists, for example a community hall, there has been a growing tendency that those facilities are used now more than they would have been in the past.

I made a few phone calls around the country and it is not only a rural issue. In parts of certain large urban communities, primary schools tend to be located in situations where they are easily accessible and sporting facilities or community halls do not tend to be as evenly spread throughout urban areas and certainly not throughout the broader rural community.

The points the Deputy makes in relation to the choosing of polling booth and polling station locations are issues that must be brought to the fore again with Returning Officers, in terms of directives and circulars from the Department. Broadly speaking, while there were incidents around the country, in particular in relation to postering, the referendum seems to have been carried out in a full and open fashion.

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