asked the Minister for Local Government whether he is aware that the Returning Officer in the County Borough of Dublin issued in connection with the forthcoming elections a list of polling stations showing that three thousand one hundred and fifty-one people in Ballyfermot should vote in polling stations in a building which has not yet been erected; if he will say how the mistake arose; and if he will take special steps to ensure that the voters affected are individually notified that they should vote in the De la Salle National Schools, Ballyfermot Road, and not in the place originally and incorrectly announced.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Ballyfermot Polling Stations.
35.
Mr. Ryan
I am informed that the returning officer for Dublin county borough agreed to facilitate certain organisations and prospective candidates who had requested advance information concerning probable polling places by giving them details from the list of polling places which he was preparing. The fact that the list was provisional was made clear to the persons so facilitated. The list included the name of St. Michael's National School, Bóthar Drum Finn, Ballyfermot, which has not yet been completed. The list was not published generally or issued to the public by the returning officer. When it became known that the school would not be available, the returning officer immediately notified the organisations and persons to whom the provisional list had been given.
I understand that in addition to the newspaper publicity, of which the Deputy is doubtless aware, and to the notification served on each candidate, the returning officer has arranged for the wide display of the statutory notice indicating the situation of polling stations and the electors who are entitled to vote at each station. This notice indicates that electors who had been provisionally listed under St. Michael's National School shall vote, as in previous elections, at the De la Salle National Schools, Ballyfermot.
Arrangements for the conduct of local elections are, under statute, a matter for the returning officer and I am satisfied that my intervention is not called for in the present case.
Mr. Ryan
Is the Minister aware that as late as last Saturday many of the voters in the area affected were informed by written notice from one of the candidates that they should vote at the non-existent schools in Bothar Drum Finn? Is the Minister further aware that far from the building being completed it is scarcely started, and would the Minister kindly indicate to the House who or what organisation was responsible for the misleading information which caused and is still causing people to be informed that they are to vote in a school which does not exist?
Is the Minister aware that, while this provisional list was circulated, the Returning Officer was not the person who gave notice to the electors where to vote and that as far back as two weeks ago we all saw this, which was published all over the area? Can the Minister say if he has any responsibility for the manner in which a candidate makes a mess of his election campaign?
Mr. Ryan
He was misled in the first place.
Deputy Briscoe has come to the very point of the matter. I am not responsible for the Returning Officer and God forbid that I should be responsible for all of the candidates, particularly those in whom the Deputy is interested.
Surely there must be some limit to the discourtesy permitted by Ministers to themselves in making Parliamentary replies? May I inquire will the Minister consult the appropriate authority with a view to having a suitable notice exposed on the site of this uncompleted building in case anybody has been misled by this unfortunate mistake?
The Minister is probably aware that I am quite aware of what is going on. Every tenant of the scheme has been made aware by these notices all over the scheme. As a matter of fact, the Returning Officer has made it alphabetical to make it easier for them.
And may I ask the Minister would he kindly consider giving an answer to the supplementary question I have asked him? I asked the Minister would he consider asking the appropriate authority to have an adequate notice displayed on the site of the uncompleted building which, inadvertently, at some stage was said to be a polling place for a certain district?
Does the Deputy suggest we put up a notice saying: "You cannot vote here"?
This is getting us nowhere and is grossly discourteous. All I suggested is this, and I really think the Minister ought to consider it. If there has been a mistake made as to the polling place by anybody as a result of a mistake originally made in a preliminary publication by the Returning Officer, would the Minister consider asking the appropriate authority to have a notice displayed on this site directing anyone who may have been misled to proceed to where the poll is, in fact, taking place?
In reply to the Deputy and to the House I would like to say that when the error was discovered in mid-May the organisations and the candidates who had been facilitated by the issue of the advance information were then notified, in mid-May, of this change as from the provisional list given to them earlier. The political Parties, both Fine Gael and Labour, have in their own leaflets issued on the 9th June indicated the proper polling stations.
Question No. 36 withdrawn.