Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators who contributed to the practical and pragmatic debate on the issues we are dealing with in this Bill. As I said at the outset, the legislation deals with a few urgent issues, such as the setting of electoral boundaries for the European elections. I can inform Senator Landy that I hope to have a report on the matter in early October. We have to allow for a period of time during which people can make submissions. I know it is not the optimum time of the year for people to notice newspaper advertisements, etc. I hope political parties and others who have an interest in this matter will be able to alert those who may wish to make submissions. The Senator also mentioned urgent issues relating to development plans in County Tipperary and other parts of the country. I do not believe in local authorities having to waste money on plans that may be invalid shortly afterwards. The section of the Bill dealing with non-national voters is also urgent.

I would like to refer briefly to a few matters that came up in the course of the debate. The situation described by Senator van Turnhout is the very reason the amendment is being made to the timelines for the supplement to the special voters list. I am taking the initiative in the course of this legislation to do something about that.

Yesterday, in the other House, I gave the Government's response to the first report of the Constitutional Convention. We have accepted the recommendation to put to the people a referendum on reducing the voting age. I suspect we will put a number of other matters to the people on the same day. We did not have sufficient time, in a legislative sense, to put this proposal in the context of the forthcoming referendum. Timelines are laid down in the process that must be-----