Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That statement clearly indicates that the Deputy does not listen. I said that the Department of Defence only provides the link between the franchise section of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and the military authorities. This is to ensure that timelines for voting are processed. Neither the Department of Defence nor my office have anything to do with sending out and collecting postal votes. It is up to the military authorities to give postal votes to members of the Defence Forces and it is then up to the members to post the ballots themselves. If a person is overseas, the military authorities look after the process of that in getting the postal vote to him or her and getting the postal vote back to the specific constituencies. The Department of Defence has no role to play whatsoever. If the Deputy listened to my original reply, he would not have asked the question he asked.

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