James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Ó Clochartaigh for raising this matter. I am pleased to take this opportunity to outline the current position on the procedures in place to enable residents in group and residential homes to vote in the recent presidential election and referenda.

The Government is committed to ensuring that vulnerable persons with disabilities in residential services are safeguarded and protected and that their quality of life is enhanced. The Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, has issued the national standards for residential services for persons with disabilities. These standards have been developed for the purposes of the registration and inspection of residential services for persons with disabilities. They will assist service providers to assess the quality of service they provide in advance of inspection. They will also act as a guide to individuals and families as to what they can reasonably expect of a residential service.

Standard 12 states, "Each individual is facilitated and supported to exercise his/her civil and political rights, in accordance with his/her wishes." This includes individuals being facilitated, where they so wish, to participate in the political process by voting and by seeking public office.

The programme for Government includes a specific commitment to put these standards on a statutory footing and ensure that the services are inspected by HIQA. As announced by the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, on 16 June last, discussions have now begun between the Department of Health and HIQA to progress this commitment. Given the complex nature of residential service provision for persons with disabilities, ranging from congregated setting to dispersed housing in the community, careful consideration is being given to designing the most appropriate regulatory model, and this work is ongoing.

While the HIQA standards have yet to be put on a statutory footing, compliance with the HIQA standards is already included in the service level agreements and arrangements between the HSE and service providers in the disability sector - that answers directly Senator Ó Clochartaigh's query on the voluntary and non-HSE service providers.

The HSE is working closely with contracted voluntary service providers to prepare for the implementation of these standards. As a general rule, clients with a disability who live in residential care are facilitated to vote where they wish to do so. Polling cards are distributed and discussions on the voting process are facilitated. The HSE is confident that if a client in one of the services run by contracted service providers requested support to cast his or her vote in the recent presidential election, this would have been facilitated.

The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government is responsible for the various legislative codes dealing with the registration of electors and the conduct of elections and referenda. That Department has advised that provision is made in electoral law for residents of a hospital or nursing home who have a physical disability to apply to be included in the special voters' list and to vote at the hospital or nursing home. These arrangements were in place for the presidential election and for the 2011 referenda. The number of special voters on the register of electors at 15 February 2011 was just over 6,000. There would have been some more added to this through the supplement process before the polls.

Electoral legislation provides for a variety of special arrangements to assist those with certain disabilities to exercise their right to vote. These include: voting at an alternative polling station if the local station is inaccessible; postal voting; assistance in voting at the polling station by a companion or the presiding officer; and voting at a hospital, nursing home or similar institution, if the individual resides there and cannot go to a polling station.

Once included in the special voters' list, a person residing in a hospital, nursing home or similar institution who has a physical disability or illness which prevents him or her from going to the polling station, can vote at the hospital or nursing home. Local arrangements for special voting are made by the returning officer in each constituency involving assistance in voting, as it is required, by the special presiding officer.

In consultation with the National Disability Authority, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government provided guidance on accessible voting for the recent polls. This guidance assisted returning officers and their staff in a practical way and aimed to increase their awareness of assisting persons with disabilities on polling day. The guidance also included an accessible voting checklist which draws on the National Disability Authority's 2002 publication, Building for Everyone, including guidance on accessible voting and access to polling stations.

The latest data from the national disability databases shows that 9,000 persons with a disability live in full-time residential settings. These settings vary from large institutions to individual homes in the community and staff support will vary according to the varying needs of the client group.

The HSE does not routinely collate information on the number of service users who are registered to vote or who have requested assistance to allow them to vote. Therefore, the specific information sought by Senator Ó Clochartaigh on the numbers who were brought to vote in the recent presidential election is not available. However, in view of the foregoing HIQA standards, which at present is non-statutory, it is clear that the potential to enable persons residing in group or residential homes to exercise their franchise needs further attention, and certainly we will be engaging on that.