Yes. I have interpreted amendment No. 1 to mean that it bans political advertising during an election period and has an impact on political advertisements.

Yes.

Vótáil.

I move amendment No. 2: In page 17, line 7, to delete "2" and substitute "3". Amendment No. 2 is a consequential amendment to amendment No. 5, which seeks to clarify that with the addition of the Clerk of Seanad Éireann to the electoral commission, there would be three ex officio members of the commission. Amendment No. 4 seeks to clarify that the chairperson of the electoral commission may not be the Chief Justice. I can see from the way this section is worded that it is clearly not the intention of the Government…

I am coming back in because I have just realised that in my ordering of my amendments, I missed amendments Nos. 3 and 8, which are part of this grouping. Amendment No. 3 reads: In page 17, between lines 8 and 9, to insert the following: "(2) Of the ordinary members of the Commission, not less than 2 shall be women, and in circumstances where there are 6 whole ordinary members, not less than 3 of them shall be women.”. The purpose of this amendment is to ensure a minimum level of representation of women among the me…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I refer to amendment No. 4 and the interpretation and understanding of the Chief Justice's role. As far as I understand it, we have written the amendment to ensure that the Chief Justice cannot serve as the chairperson of the commission. I will recap briefly on this. I can see from the way the section is worded, that it is clearly not the intention of the Government that the Chief Justice would serve as the chairperson given that he or she would be in the position to …

I am not underestimating the role that the commission can play. I appreciate the Minister of State’s assurances and I do not question them at all. The Minister of State mentioned that the commission will carry out research and that will include certain organisations or minority groups. They would advise or they would be present at decision-making tables. My issue is that they should be the decision-making table. It should not be the case that when research is being carried out by the commission, such research is ta…

I move amendment No. 3: "In page 17, between lines 8 and 9, to insert the following: “(2) Of the ordinary members of the Commission, not less than 2 shall be women, and in circumstances where there are 6 whole ordinary members, not less than 3 of them shall be women.”."

I move amendment No. 4: In page 17, line 18, after “Court” to insert “other than the Chief Justice”.

I move amendment No. 5: In page 17, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following: “(c) the Clerk of Seanad Éireann or, where that office is vacant, the Clerk Assistant of Seanad Éireann.”.

I move amendment No. 6: In page 18, between lines 24 and 25, to insert the following: “(d) expertise in the promotion of participation in either Irish or international electoral systems;”.

I move amendment No 8: In page 18, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following: “(g) matters connected with human rights and equality, and (h) without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (g) , matters connected with persons, or classes of persons, who are disadvantaged by reference to the following factors, which take their meaning from section 2 of the Employment Equality Act 1998: (i) gender; (ii) civil status; (iii) family status; (iv) sexual orientation; (v) religious belief; (vi) age; (vii) disabilit…

I move amendment No. 9: In page 18, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following: “(6) Where recommending to the Government persons for appointment as ordinary members of the Commission, the Service shall have due regard to obligations under section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Act 2014 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.”.

I move amendment No. 10: In page 19, to delete lines 29 and 30. Amendment No. 10 is a simple enough amendment proposing to delete lines 29 and 30. The purpose of this amendment is to edit the conditions for reappointment of an ordinary member to the Electoral Commission at the conclusion of his or her term. The Bill currently provides that an ordinary member is eligible for reappointment after the conclusion of either a three or four year term. The conditions for reappointment state that it is not necessary for the…

I understand that on the first appointment and the process a person has already gone through with regard to his or her experience, character and so forth. In terms of creating another term, it is not only then based on the experiences a person entered the commission with but on his or her performance and role within the commission for the years he or she has been there. There should be at least some oversight or some sort of mechanism whereby a reappointment would be passed. It is a long time to be in a role to jus…

I move amendment No. 11: In page 21, line 10, to delete “may publish,” and substitute “shall make publicly available”. Amendment No. 11 is a simple amendment that aims to make sure that the Electoral Commission would make publicly available on its website the records of the agendas of its meetings, any papers relating to those meetings and the reports of those meetings. It is hugely important that the work of the commission is transparent and accessible to the public. Opening the doors to the work of the commission…

I move amendment No. 12: In page 21, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following subsection: "(d) progress regarding the wholesale review of the Electoral Act 1997, including the review of its provisions relating to political funding, until such a time as that review is complete." The wording of the amendment is as outlined. Amendment No. 12 relates in large part to amendments Nos. 28, 67 and 69, in that it is aimed at reviewing the Electoral Act 1997 as it relates to political funding. Amendment No. 28 specif…

I reluctantly accept that the intention is to have this matter addressed. It is not that I question the Minister of State. I know how much he cares about addressing this issue. At the very least, we should include in the legislation an intention that the commission address it. If we have a reshuffle, we could have an election and the next Minister or Government may not necessarily have the same intention as the Minister of State. They may not have the bona fides that they will ensure this long-standing issue is add…

I thank Senator Warfield and the Sinn Féin Party for tabling these amendments. I first worked with Senator Warfield on this issue when we worked on the Electoral (Amendment) (Voting at 16) Bill. Reflecting on it or even thinking of the arguments put forward against it at the time, Members would find they were quite amusing if they were to read the transcript of that debate. Comments were made to the effect there are reasons we do not allow young people to smoke or buy alcohol until they are 18 years old. I always t…

It showed how narrow and insular the thinking was on the voting at 16 legislation and how ridiculous some of the arguments were. However, I see a difference and a change since then, with many people being much more supportive of it. We need to move on it but the narrative is definitely beginning to change and people understand why it is so important. I viewed the voting at 16 legislation through the prism of my life and how engaged I was at such an early age. I am not talking in the abstract about some potential 16…