John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will go through the matters different Senators raised. Senator Ned O'Sullivan was first and spoke about the progression in franchise law which this year rightly marks the 100th anniversary of the first parliamentary vote for women. We have also overcome all sorts of other hurdles and obstacles. I am not sure I ever witnessed abuse of disabled voters but I certainly witnessed the clearing of polling stations on a number of occasions and times when presiding officers had to effectively mark people's ballots, which removes a certain aspect of the privacy of the ballot which is so crucially important. I have heard of worse examples than that anecdotally but politics has changed and the situation that used to exist whereby, on polling day, representatives from political parties stood outside polling stations and tried to canvass at the last minute or brought people to polling stations, has certainly changed over the years. That is not to say that it does not need to be changed further.

The Senator referred to illiteracy in general and a Fianna Fáil Private Members' Bill from a number of years ago. We need to ensure that when people are casting their ballots, there can be no suspicion that their vote is identifiable as being different and that a vote processed through a machine or computer has the potential at least to be identified back to the person who cast it. In small rural polling stations in Kerry and Kilkenny, that might apply to very small numbers of people. In certain circumstances, it might only apply to one or two individuals. That is not to say there is not merit in examining how it happens.

Senator Conway referred to an audit of returning officers. That is carried out after every election and referendum and that work has been done. It has not been collated yet but the purpose of that is to try and improve things as we go on.

The Senator also spoke about a working group, and Senator Dolan raised something similar. The Department has liaised closely with the NCBI about the template and the provision of a template that would work. I have no problem whatsoever with that becoming a formal working group, that it would be more than just the NCBI and encapsulate accessibility in its generality. That is something which, having spoken to the national returning officer behind me, we can start working towards. That group should be reflective of the different types of problems that people can have in terms of accessibility when it comes to voting.

Senator Colm Burke's contribution was mostly about Cork. I was going to say that Cork people are predictable, but that is the wrong phrase to use.