Results 13,041-13,060 of 13,224 for speaker:Pat Gallagher

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages (Resumed). (12 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: This matter has been debated extensively but I have not heard any substantive reasons for the inclusion of this amendment, nor am I aware of any other country using such a facility. Whether the facility should be provided is the subject of debate. It is not a proven requirement nor is it a statutory requirement. There are arguments on both sides but the commission will consider the matter. We...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages (Resumed). (12 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: As I have indicated on a number of occasions, including yesterday, it is the intention to review the count rules, having regard to the calculation and distribution of votes. It affects only surpluses, not eliminations. The review will also cover other areas linked to some arbitrary and random elements of the count. It was made abundantly clear yesterday, particularly by a Member who may have...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages (Resumed). (12 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: All I can say is that it will depend on various factors, not least of which is a report from the Commission on Electronic Voting. I cannot give an indication of the date because it relates to that report. When we have that report there will be a further opportunity to discuss the introduction of legislation on count rules. There is no urgency. The important thing is to get it right. When we...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages (Resumed). (12 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: As I stated last evening, I do not consider it necessary for instructions to be included in a statutory order. Any instructions issued will be public documents, not just confined to a party. It is the intention that most of the instructions will be in the guidelines to be issued under section 31 of the Bill. These guidelines will be available for public scrutiny. The same applies for other...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (11 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: I have indicated on a number of occasions that the question of publication of the source code will be examined later in the year having regard to the security and secrecy of the ballot. As intended, my Department will examine the count rules in the context of electronic voting and counting to provide that all the votes of elected candidates are examined in the calculation and distribution of...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (11 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: This matter has been debated over the past few months and I have not heard, even today, any substantive reasons for the inclusion, nor am I aware of any other country using such a facility. It may have been used in Brazil at some stage but I understand it is being discontinued there. This matter of the paper trail is causing concern, mostly in the US, regarding the use of some PC-based...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (11 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: It is ironic that earlier in the debate we were being accused of being too involved in the process. I do not know the answers to the questions. This is a matter for the returning officers, not the Minister. Ballot boxes will be available in ample time for the election. If I were to get involved in the micro-aspects of this, there would be justifiable reasons for making further accusations. I...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (11 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: As already indicated on Second and Committee Stages in the Dáil, the Government intends reviewing the count rules following the June polls having regard to the calculation and distribution of surpluses. Senator Finucane has taken us through operations in that regard in terms of how a different result can be obtained if surpluses are distributed in a different manner. He is quite right in...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (11 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: The amendment seeks to set aside the provisions of the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2002 which introduced that instead of deposits non-party candidates would require their nomination forms to be assented by 15 assentors in the case of a local election, 30 for a general election and 60 for election to the European Parliament. I would like to point out that provision has been made, in terms of a...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (11 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: Instructions are not normally given by way of statutory order. Any instructions issued will, of course, be public documents. It is intended that most of the instructions will be in the guidelines to be issued under section 32 of the Bill. These guidelines will also be available publicly. However laudable Senator Bannon's case, his amendment is unnecessary and what he proposes would deviate...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (11 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: This is a textual amendment. While I respect Senator Bannon, I am inclined to take the advice of the Parliamentary Counsel, who has approved the word, "modifying" in line with previous practice.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (11 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: We all accept the principle outlined by the Senator. However, I refer him to section 9(1) which deals with the opening of the poll. It reads: Immediately before the commencement of the poll at an election or referendum, the presiding officer at each polling station, after ensuring that the lock on the machine referred to in section 8 has not been interfered with, shall operate the voting...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (11 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: Subsection (5) clarifies the position for presiding officers where a person leaves a polling station. This is the current position in polling stations where paper ballots are used. Once a person is marked off the register of electors, a second ballot paper would not be issued if that person were to leave a polling station. A voter must vote without undue delay and should leave the polling...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (11 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: The effect of the combined amendments to section 19 is, in general, to increase the number of members of the commission by adding additional office holders to its membership, namely the Ombudsman and the Comptroller and Auditor General. Furthermore, amendment No. 35 seeks to drop two current members. The Bill provides that the commission is chaired by a judge of the High Court and includes...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (11 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: The effect of the amendment would be to ignore respected Members like Senator Quinn and assert that the major parties should decide these issues. That would not lead to useful legislation. Contrary to Senator Brian Hayes's suggestion, all legislation coming before the Houses of the Oireachtas is important. General consensus is somewhat different to all-party support. If we must have the...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (11 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: The procedure proposed in section 1(9) of the Bill is the same as that generally used for commencement orders for many years across a wide variety of legislation and I see no need to change the procedure. Having regard to the discussion on amendments Nos. 1 and 4, I cannot accept amendments Nos. 5 and 6. If we were to change this and other pieces of legislation in this way, the entire system...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (11 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: Amendment No. 7 seeks to extend the description of the offence described in section 2 in relation to the software used or intended for use in the system. The Bill already covers this point, perhaps in a less direct manner. I refer the Senator to section 1(2) which states: The Electoral Acts 1992 to 2002 and this Act may be cited together as the Electoral Acts 1992 to 2004 and shall be read...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (11 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: The wording of the amendment would set the commission an impossible task. For example, the amendment refers to "highest standards". Standards always change and the commission's report states the voting machines produced by the internationally accredited company, PTB, are constructed in line with the current general state of technology. This is fluid. Reference is also made to secrecy and...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (11 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: This amendment, tabled by Labour Party and moved by Senator McCarthy, is not directly related to the Bill and does not represent a clear understanding of the role of the Minister in the conduct of elections. Each of the electoral and referendum legislative codes provides that the conduct of an election or a referendum is clearly the statutory responsibility of the relevant returning officer,...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (11 May 2004)

Pat Gallagher: It is interesting. Deputy Howlin had responsibility for the general election of 1997, the referenda in 1995 on divorce and in 1996 on bail, the local elections in 1994 and the European elections. I do not know if Deputy Howlin was the party's director of elections and I am not concerned about it. The late John Boland, who was Minister for the Environment in 1986 and 1987, had responsibility...