Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

394. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans for electoral reform. [14914/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Programme for Government - "Our Shared Future" - commits to several electoral reform initiatives. These include:

- Putting in place an Electoral Commission by the end of 2021. The Electoral Commission will provide independent oversight of electoral events. It will be empowered to regulate online political advertising and will be mandated to examine the use of postal voting with a view to expanding its provision. Within 12 months of being established the Commission will also be tasked with examining the use of posters at elections and referendums.

- Completing the modernisation process for voter registration,

- Reviewing our electoral laws and the conduct of politics in Ireland, to ensure that donations and resources from non-citizens outside the State are not being utilised to influence our elections and political process.

- Examination of the potential for replacing bye-elections with an alternate list system.

- Establishing a fund to support political and electoral research by academics and researchers.

- Examining the Scottish experience of reducing the voting age to 17 in order to draw conclusions.

- Examining the time limitation on people who are temporarily living outside of the State to remain on the voting register.

I am committed to advancing all of the commitments relating to electoral reform that are set out over the lifetime of the Programme for Government.