Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to react to what the Minister of State has said. I welcome where she is coming from and appreciate that she has come in here with a response. I also appreciate where the returning officers are coming from. Unfortunately, returning officers are given leeway in legislation to allow them five days to ask for a change of polling day. The returning officer acts on behalf of the State. Therefore, it is the citizen that has been disenfranchised and not the returning officer. The argument has been advanced that a change would delay the counting of votes but so be it. The votes could be counted 48 hours later. We could also have a day in between for all of the candidates and the teams involved to recuperate. We should have all of the votes counted on the same day which is the following day. We should look at the issue form a constitutional point of view. I would love to hear whether the Department has received constitutional advice from the Office of the Attorney General in terms of disenfranchising citizens who live on an island simply because of the view of returning officers. I think that is the wrong way to go. Is there a legal impediment to making a change? Are island people being disenfranchised with this provision? I would argue island communities are being disenfranchised.