Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for that clarification but it is a pity that it is not clearer in legislation. If it is 10% of the limit, why not state that in the legislation? I would have thought that would be a fairly simple thing to do and it would remove much of the lack of clarity about which we are talking. I thank the Minister of State for his clarification on it. I am aware the Minister is issuing guidelines to local authorities and I asked on Second Stage whether those have been published in anticipation of the signing of this Bill into law. If they have not, perhaps it is timely that the Minister would take the views of the Fine Gael Party into account to give a clear understanding to local authority officials who might be advising candidates and to give candidates a clear understanding of their obligations under law. As I said at the outset, they will have a lot on their plate. It concerns the fundamentals of democracy. They will need all the assistance they can get to try to comply with legislation because that is what they want to do but the Department and the local authorities must help them achieve that.