Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and the Department for the work that has been done and I also thank all the people in charge of organising polling stations around the country for elections. I have come across some difficulties, for instance, where artificial ramps have to be put in place but which did not work out on polling day. With increasingly more public buildings having been made more user friendly for people with disabilities, considerable progress has been made but there are still places where not all the required facilities are available and some work needs to be done to address that.

I wish to raise the issue of the change in the boundaries in my area of Cork. I understand that change will come into effect on the day of the election. There is a question mark over who will be in charge on the day of the election, as the city sheriff has jurisdiction over the current boundary of the city and the county sheriff has jurisdiction over the county. People in some areas in the county will now be voting in the city election for the first time. I understand this change will come into place on midnight before the day of the election. That issue needs to be dealt with, given that while the county sheriff will not be dealing with new areas the city sheriff will, and they may not be familiar with the new areas over which they will be in charge. In some cases parishes will be divided following the change in the city boundary and new polling stations will have to be identified. That issue needs to be examined to make sure there is access to every polling station, regardless of whether it is in the city or county or in a rural or urban area, for any person with a disability. When such a changeover is happening it is important that is taken into account. Much progress has been made and we have come a long way during the last 20 years. We have a bit more to do but a great deal of work has been done by the Department, the local authorities and by the people who were in charge of the various referendums and elections.