Referendum Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 11 February 2015

Wednesday, 11 February 2015

Ceisteanna (67)

Terence Flanagan

Ceist:

67. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the final costs involved in the holding of the referendum on the abolition of Seanad Éireann and the referendum on the Court of Appeal on 4 October 2014; the specific additional costs involved in having a second referendum on that date, for example the printing of ballot papers for the second vote, additional resources for the referendum commission and overtime costs for staff to count the second ballot; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6282/15]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform

The final cost of holding the Referendum on the abolition of Seanad Éireann and the Referendum on the Court of appeal on 4th October 2013 amounted to €14.4m. The breakdown of this cost is as follows:

Costs	€
Returning Officer Costs for taking the poll and counting of votes	€10.2m
Postal Costs (primarily delivery of Polling Cards)	€1.4m
Referendum Commission Costs	€2.4m
Other Costs (including printing)	€0.4m

The additional or incremental costs of holding a second ballot are relatively small in percentage terms, and are primarily made up of additional Returning Officer Costs €0.4m, additional Printing and Miscellaneous costs €0.1m and Referendum Commission Costs of approximately €1.2m. The additional Returning Officer costs arise as Returning Officers get an additional 20% of their fee where there is more than one poll and Presiding Officers and Count Supervisors get an additional 10%. In total the incremenatal costs of a second poll are estimated at €1.7m or 13% more than the cost of a single poll. From a cost point of view, as you would expect, there is a significant advantage in holding more than one poll on the same day.