Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. Based on his reply and the census that is taking place in April, one can therefore say, again, depending on the Central Statistics Office, CSO, that the preliminary results will be published in the summer of 2022. The electoral commission, if it has been set up, would have 12 months after that to report, and for this to be confirmed within three months of the publication of the final census data.

On the local elections, I again urge that timely decisions are made on these because we cannot have a situation whereby a commission is organised or has decided to review boundaries that leaves the minimum amount of time for candidates, sitting councillors or would-be councillors, to prepare for them. It is important that those decisions are made in a timely manner in advance of the 2024 elections, which we know are taking place on that date. The general election may be slightly different as we obviously do not know when exactly that will take place but we know the date of the local and European elections.