John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

Can the Leader arrange for a debate on electronic voting and the proposals contained therein? I was listening to the Joint Committee on the Environment and Local Government yesterday and two Labour Party consultants suggested that one in 1,000 results might be inaccurate. As the advertising for the National Lottery says, "It could be you". There are over 1,000 candidates standing in the local elections and 500 candidates for the general election and such inaccuracy would be intolerable. We need clarity on this because it is far too serious in a democracy to have a hitch that might technically prevent a government taking power. It could have many very serious consequences. Even at a local level one inaccurate result would be wrong.

Can the Leader also please organise a debate on the professions in the new term? This should refer particularly to monopolies, restrictive practices and self-governance.