Results 18,621-18,640 of 28,255 for speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I was saying if there were an 11 a.m. arrangement, that would mean ordinary ferry services could be used without any cost to the State. That is one possibility. My understanding is that at the last election, either an Air Corps or a Coast Guard helicopter ferried ballot boxes in and out of the Donegal islands. That is another possibility, albeit a little bit more expensive.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I am not sure exactly which agency provided the helicopter. Rather than bring them in and out by boat as heretofore, that was done.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Tory Island is the most inaccessible.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: However, there is a contracted helicopter service to the island. In the great national scheme of things, therefore, the expense to get the boxes in is not that huge. Obviously, a helicopter will guarantee that, whatever the weather, one will get them in when one wants them and certainly if the Government proposes a later arrival time. Ms Ní Fhlanghaile raised an issue of concern to me,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Perhaps Ms Ní Fhlanghaile as the legal expert might advise us of how that issue would be dealt with because it is a possibility under the current law that returning officers------

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Even in parts of Donegal where they voted two days before the rest of the country until the most recent general election, there was short day polling.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: It was more a factor of the population of an island and whether there was a possibility that anybody would vote late in the day rather than the day on which the poll was taken because, as I said, there was always very short day polling on the two islands in Donegal that I mentioned and the local population were not against it. Half the island population lives on the three Aran Islands and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: That is my understanding. There is no logistical issue accessing Bere Island because it is so far into the bay. When I was there, there were approximately 14 sailings each way every day. There is a similar situation in Arranmore. It is interesting that the number attending the island school on Arranmore is rapidly growing. Pupils go from the mainland to the island in the morning and back...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: In Galway.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The last ferry arrives at the island at approximately 5.30 p.m. because we designed those for------

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The last ferry going to the island is at 5.30 p.m.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The last ferry leaving the islands is earlier than that unless------

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: There is but it is to the islands because that is where people want to go.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: It is at 8 a.m.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Some use it to go to work, although not many do so every day. Some use it to do so on a Monday morning. It would not be a huge issue to get the ballot boxes to the mainland but the requirement for them to be at the count centre by 9 a.m. is unnecessarily restrictive because there is no way that all boxes will be opened at 9 a.m. Boxes only start being opened at 9 a.m. It would be easy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The numbers are very striking. The 2011 electorate on Arranmore in Donegal was 523. That will not have changed dramatically since then. The island is inshore and one can get a boat to it at any time of the day or night. It is a ten-minute ferry journey to the island.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I have not worked out what would have happened on the mainland had there been a general election on the day of Storm Ophelia.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I am sure Ms Ní Fhlanghaile has. To take an extreme example, if the county of the Deputy beside me experienced an incredibly heavy snowfall prior to polling day, what would be done, in particular for older people? There are significant "what ifs" nationwide. There is only a one in a million chance of not being able to get in, even if people had to resort to using a helicopter. It is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Yes. It might be a bit later on a Friday, but we can get to that. All of the information is on the website. Inishbofin, with 166 people, is in the same situation. Bere Island has 179 people and Cape Clear Island has 122. Presumably, they wait for the last boat in the evening. There are also Dursey, Heir and Whiddy islands, which have 9, 29 and 14 people, respectively. Long Island has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2017)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I do not know whether it is appropriate to say it but, through the good offices of the Chair, we might enter a dialogue. If I understand it, we all want to go to the same place. The Department accepts-----