Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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587. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of prosecutions taken and the number of convictions secured, for the offence of taking photographs inside a polling station since the commencement of the Electoral Act 1992. [61095/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Part XXII of the Electoral Act 1992 sets out a range of electoral offences along with the relevant penalties that apply where a person is found guilty of an offence under the Act. My Department does not compile data in relation to the number of prosecutions taken and the number of convictions secured for electoral offences.

While the taking of photographs is not specifically prohibited in electoral law, section 137 of the 1992 Act provides for offences in relation to a breach of secrecy of the ballot. As the taking of photographs of marked ballot papers has the potential to compromise the secrecy of the ballot, guidance issued by my Department to Returning Officers and Presiding Officers in advance of electoral events advises that the taking of a photograph of a ballot paper being marked, or of a marked ballot paper, should not be allowed at polling stations. My Department also recommends to Returning Officers that they should place notices to that effect in polling stations.