Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

The local elections will take place in approximately six weeks. Two or three days after the 1999 local elections, I and a Fianna Fáil Deputy, who is now the Chief Whip, raised with the then Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, the need to put measures in place to encourage voter turnout. In 1999, only a little over half the electorate voted in the local elections and this was regarded as a problem. The Minister promised us he would put in place plans and initiatives to improve voter turnout. Sadly, nothing appears to have happened. Will the Leader take steps, even at this late stage, to make some effort to encourage the public to participate in the local and European elections and at least ensure that 50% of the electorate vote? From our perspective, it will be a failure on our part if there is a lower turnout than 50%.

The electronic voting roadshow, which we are told is up and running, is not proving successful to date.