Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 896: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the situation in relation to a professional development worker who is overseas and working with bodies such as the ICRC, IFRC, UN/UNV and so on and who is currently a professional with the UN in Haiti; and if they may have access to a postal vote in the same line as members of the Defence Forces (details supplied). [10745/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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In order to be able to vote at elections and referenda in this jurisdiction, a person's name must be entered in the register of electors for a constituency in the State in which the person ordinarily resides.

Postal voting is provided for in respect of certain categories of person as specified in electoral law. The Electoral Act 1992 provides for postal voting by wholetime members of the Defence Forces, members of the Garda, and Irish diplomats serving abroad and their spouses. Subsequent legislation enacted by the Oireachtas has extended postal voting to other categories: electors living at home who are unable to vote because of a physical illness or a physical disability — the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1996; electors whose occupation, service or employment make it likely that they will be unable to vote in person at their local polling station on polling day — in these cases, the law provides for completion of the necessary voting documentation at a Garda station (the Electoral Act 1997); full-time students registered at their home who are living elsewhere while attending an educational institution in the State — the Electoral Act 1997; and certain election staff employed at the poll outside the constituency where they reside — the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2001.

While electoral law is subject to ongoing review, there are no proposals to alter the existing arrangements along the lines referred to in the question.