Vol. 57 No. 8
I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £17,500 chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfadh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1936, chun Costaisí fén Acht Timpeal Toghachán, 1923, agus fé Acht na nGiúirithe, 1927.
That a sum not exceeding £17,500 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1936, for Expenses under the Electoral Act, 1923, and the Juries Act, 1927.
There is a point which I should like to raise, but I do not know whether it is appropriate to this Vote. Recently there have been published returns of a by-election in Galway. Amongst the particulars published were the number of votes polled for different Parties in particular areas. This bears on the secrecy of the ballot, and I should like to ask the Minister if the conduct of elections is such that these disclosures can be made and if he will undertake that the arrangements in the future will be such as will preserve the secrecy of the ballot.
As the Deputy knows, I have no control over returning officers. If he wishes to raise any matters concerning the secrecy of the ballot, he can do so by way of election petition.
Surely somebody is responsible for the control of these officers. It is not a question of an election petition. It should not be necessary to take an election petition in order to correct an obvious irregularity in the conduct of elections. The Minister and every other Deputy should be interested to secure that the ballot will be secret. Apparently, there have been disclosures in connection with the Galway by-election which show that there is a lack of secrecy.
The very same disclosures were made in Sligo-Leitrim in 1927.
I do not see any sub-head in this Vote on which the Deputy can raise this question.
This deals with certain expenditure under the Electoral Act.
It deals only with the preparation of the register.
The matter is one that the Minister should take an interest in, and try to interest whoever is responsible in the proper conduct of these things.
