Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. As the Minister of State knows, we will have a referendum on Friday. We do not know what the results will be but it is certain that we will see the closure of thousands of primary schools all around the country to facilitate the vote. While I appreciate this may bring some joy to some of the students and indeed the staff, it causes childcare difficulties for many parents as a result. I am not in any way suggesting that primary schools are childcare providers but it causes a number of problems for parents who planned their week and suddenly have to take a day off because of a vote. In addition, it is a day out of the formal education system for children.

I appreciate that if we move to Saturday or indeed Sunday voting, which would be in line with many of our fellow EU member states, that may resolve some of those issues, although the evidence is not yet clear from the last general election or indeed the children's referendum that Saturday voting increases turnout. That said, we need to look at broadening the range of venues that can be used as polling places, particularly because of the impact on education and the disruption that it can cause to some families. I appreciate, because these are public buildings, that there is a cost saving to the State because it is using public buildings, but there are other public buildings that may possibly be used. I am thinking about libraries, local authority offices or indeed Garda stations.

In the UK, local authorities have a mandate that every five years, they have a responsibility to conduct a compulsory review of all polling places. This would make sense here, not just for that reason but also because, as the Minister of State knows, there have been issues with the accessibility of certain polling places. I think we should move to a situation where all polling places are particularly accessible.

It is interesting that, in Australia, electors can vote in any polling place in their constituency. This makes a lot of sense. Your polling place may be close to where you are living but because of what you are doing during the course of the day, your place of work may not be close. The polling clerks are able to check online, with somebody's identity, and are able to cross them off online when they come in to vote. Australia has quite a number of pre-poll voting centres where people can come prior to the election and cast their vote. These, interestingly, do not just include supermarkets but airports. If people are on their way out of the country, they can still cast a vote at an airport.

We need to facilitate people to vote in accessible places. We do not need to continuously rely, as we have since the vote was granted, primarily on primary schools. As the Minister of State is aware, there have been pilots using supermarkets and other polling venues in other countries. The evidence about whether it increases turnout in them is inconclusive. It is important that we try to ensure that we facilitate people, particularly families which, as the Minister of State knows, come in all forms, which I hope will be reflected in the referendum on Friday. For those families, there can often be a difficulty if their local primary school is closed. I ask the Department to indicate that there will be a review of polling places or at least that it might request the Electoral Commission to carry out such a review