Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Stanton. The issue of proxy voting is one on which I would personally have a mild concern but I have no issue at all with postal voting because there is an opportunity for all Deputies. We are all practitioners of and fundamentally cherish democracy. We spend our time not just in this Chamber but in going out to schools, community groups and other organisations to encourage people to vote, regardless of who they vote for, and it does not have to be for ourselves. We should therefore be facilitating the greatest level of access to democracy. Much has been done and there has been much improvement in allowing people to have that full access to ensure that they have their democratic right to vote. Of course, so much more can be done. The research the commission will be delivering in the next couple of weeks will define what the next step is for postal voting.

In some regards, perhaps we do not have to wait for the next couple of weeks because Deputy Stanton, is convener of the parliamentary friendship group with Canada, which is another country which has postal voting. All of us are lucky to engage with parliamentarians from other jurisdictions which have this.

There is a chance for groups who are interested in this, both in this House and in the Seanad, to come together to see how can we explore what is being done in other jurisdictions, as has already been laid out so eloquently by Deputy Stanton, where this is working and how can we take the report that will come and make sure that a rapid response is delivered, because Deputy Stanton is correct that it takes far too long to get certain things done in this country, particularly when it comes to democracy and the functioning of the State.

There is an opportunity, hopefully, to get this done before the general election. I genuinely believe that is there.

It strikes me that people who have booked a holiday before an election is called are robbed of their democratic mandate. We all know the anecdotal evidence of people who left these shores four or five years ago who come home to vote in breach of the Electoral Act but yet the people who are always here to vote who are very much participating in our society and our economy, only by the sheer fluke of timing, do not get that opportunity. Therefore, I look forward to the report and working with Deputy Stanton to further this with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien.

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