Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Senator. Certainly, in terms of accessibility, the view from the meetings I have had with our franchise section and with access groups is that significant improvements have been made regarding public accessibility and ensuring premises are fully accessible for people with visual impairments and physical disabilities.That is critical. As I said, the objective is to maximise the participation of everybody who is eligible to vote in our electoral system. We have the referendums this weekend and the local and European elections in June, and it is will be very important to try to get a high voter turnout in both those electoral events.

I take on board the points the Senator is making about the use of schools and the inconvenience for parents. It is something we will take back to the commission and ask it to look at. It is going to publish its research programme shortly relating to the use of Saturday and Sunday voting, whether that would increase turnout and what the experience has been in other jurisdictions. Nevertheless, the flexibility is there to segregate parts of school premises and seek out halls or other suitable premises in constituencies.