Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

One way of addressing the problem would be to introduce single seat constituencies, but that is an argument for another day. I also support the Minister's views in that regard.

All countries which have introduced voting for citizens of their countries who are non-residents implement a registration process. This can, in a sense, be inhibiting in that it makes people stop and think about whether they really wish to participate. Having registered, they must then physically cast their votes in the various designated centres. The result is that there is no distortion. I accept, however, that Ireland has a small population and a unique electoral system. It is a powerful argument against votes for emigrants and politicians will not vote for it, just as turkeys will not vote for Christmas, and a future Minister for the Environment and Local Government who wishes to introduce this initiative might find himself or herself up against this political reality. The Minister discovered as much on a variety of issues.

I welcome the task force report. The volume of work done by the task force is astonishing. The appendix outlines the number of people its members met and the places they visited. It is interesting that there were no elected politicians on these trips abroad. If there had been, would there have been a public outcry about them travelling here, there and everywhere on what would be a legitimate exercise for politicians? I am disappointed there were no representatives of the Oireachtas included and that the initiative behind the task force originated from outside the parliamentary process. It originated in the discussions between the social partners and the Government.