I am not altogether happy with the Minister's reply to the point I raised, because he has stated that the difference in a candidate or candidates, if I got him correct, will not be as narrow in this election and will likely be greater than in other local or Dáil elections. That is not my concern. It is not really that the casting of a vote or a number of votes would make a difference as to which candidate was elected. My concern is that a person who is entitled to vote is able to vote, because there are very many people who in fact refuse positions on polling because they are being denied their right to vote, even though in elections the eventual figures would prove that their vote made no difference to candidate, party or whatever. People like to be able to exercise the franchise when their neighbours are so doing. This is my concern, not that it makes a great difference to the result of the election. We should endeavour to make it possible for all those on the register to vote, and nothing that the State or the returning officer does should prevent them from casting their votes. I am not so sure that it will not happen on this occasion, even though it will happen to a lesser extent.
I am sure it will happen because, as I read it, the city of Dublin will be one area for voting and the county of Dublin will be another. Many of my constituents were appointed to city constituencies. I have been concerned about that for a considerable time. It is not only a question of leaving my constituency and going into city or other constituencies, but it is also the reverse. I find there are electors from city constituencies working at polling booths in my constituency. They have also been denied the right to vote in the past. My reading of this Bill is that the elector will be confined to the county or county borough in which that elector is normally entitled or registered to vote. The elector can vote there, despite the fact that the ballot paper is the same all over the country. In the past in a presidential election or a referendum such electors were denied the right to vote simply because they took up a position outside their own constituency and in this case it will be outside their own county or county borough.