Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I concur with Senator Daly. There have been direct elections to the European Parliament since 1979. The only occasion on which those elections stood alone and were not held with local authority elections was in 1984 and there was a turnout of no more than 45% or 46% which was very disappointing. Since the commencement of direct elections, the political parties have always regarded the European elections as an afterthought to the local elections being held on the same day. They were never given the political attention they deserved. The main focus of the political parties is either the town council or the county council and then the afterthought——