Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

As a member of the Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business, I associate myself strongly with and support the remarks of Senator O'Toole. Deputy McHugh's excellent report was adopted unanimously this morning, as was another excellent report by Senator Leyden. On the BMW issue, the circumstances are frightful and we all suspected there were problems.

I recently spoke in the House about the peripherality of Kerry and the changes that were made to certain roads programmes without consulting anyone on the ground in the county. In this regard, it now appears that the stretch of land from Donegal to Kerry, right down through the midlands, is probably affected. This was proven this morning and the reports were agreed unanimously by the members of the committee, the majority of whom were obviously from the Government side. The discrimination is frightful and shocking and needs to be addressed urgently. I hope the issue is highlighted and brought before the Government for immediate redress.

What are the plans of the Government regarding the potential unconstitutionality of the Electoral Act, which discriminates against candidates affiliated to parties as opposed to Independent candidates?