Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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105. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the progress in establishing the electoral commission and when he will publish the relevant legislation. [10920/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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In 2015, on the basis of a consultation paper prepared by my Department, and at the invitation of the then Minister, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht undertook a public consultation process on the establishment of an electoral commission. The Committee published a report on the consultation in January 2016. This report contains a series of recommendations regarding the establishment of an electoral commission, including functions which should be assigned to it; independence, membership and accountability mechanisms; and the establishment process. The report will inform the implementation of the commitment in A Programme for a Partnership Governmenton establishing an electoral commission.