asked the Minister for the Environment if he will transfer the functions of the Dáil constituency returning officers from county registrars to city and county managers.

There are no proposals for such a transfer.

Would the Minister agree that the city and county managers have far greater expertise and direct resources available to them and that particularly since they compile the electoral registers and make their staffs available to the county registrars, they should be effectively given control of this operation rather than having the county registrars do the work?

I am happy enough that the returning officers, who are also the county registrars, have been doing a very good job.