Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the representatives from the various bodies. It is good to have present all the bodies that may have a role in future electoral commissions. There seems to be a broad consensus around the need for an electoral commission and my party is in favour of this. That there is not a uniform means to deal with referenda and that there are problems with the register of electors and the oversight of the electoral and political processes has troubled us for a long time and we would like to see them improved.

The major difference between the CCMA and the other bodies is that it still sees a major role for local government in the electoral process, which I am inclined to go along with. If the role of local authorities is abolished, there will be problems. However, Ms Ahern referred to the integrity of the process and I share her view on trust in the current process at the point where people enter the polling station and put their ballot paper in a box. I have never had any reason to think otherwise but problems arise in respect of people who do not feel the need to vote, those who are not aware they can vote, those who do not know how to vote and those who can vote several times. I have highlighted the latter issue many times. I raised the case of 27 people being registered to a derelict house in County Monaghan prior to the second last local government election. That is far from satisfactory but the issue played itself out. I have seen similar examples that were not as bad as but we need to prevent a scenario where people are registered multiple times. The current system does not address that.

No matter how thorough officials are or how good the system is, if the electoral register is not correct, the process will be flawed. We have asked many times for PPS numbers to be used to register voters. I raised this with the previous Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Mr. Hogan, a number of times and he said there were approximately 6.5 million PPS numbers in the State.

This includes PPS numbers for people who have died, people who have returned to their countries of origin and Irish people who have emigrated. A rolling register would appear to be the way forward. The current registration system, in terms of the times when a person can register and the September and December deadlines in relation to the draft register and appeals system, is very restrictive. I would like to hear the views of the other delegates on what Mr. Nugent had to say and on my commentary in relation to local government.

The local government system worked well. I believe that where possible, local government should continue to play a significant role in the electoral process. The system falls down because we no longer have rate collectors on the ground, with rates now being paid by way of electronic transfer. As we also no longer have rent collectors the intelligence system in relation to the register of electors is also not as good. Town councillors, rate collectors and rent collectors played a major role in terms of feeding into that process. The fact that political parties no longer have as large a membership on the ground as was the case in decades gone by is also a significant problem.

In regard to the conduct and management of elections and referenda, in the delegates' view which of these functions should be transferred as soon as possible to a commission, if it is agreed that one should be established, and what functions should remain with the local authorities? Members of other commissions such as the ad hocboundary commission and referenda commissions are appointed by the Minister. Who should appoint the members of the proposed electoral commission bearing in mind the need for integrity and for the people to have trust in it? Politics is a competitive game. That is the nature of the democratic process. Who should appoint the members of the electoral commission? Should this be done by the Minister or the Public Appointments Commission? If we are agreed that we should move to an electoral commission to deal with all of the issues outlined should this be done in one fell swoop or over, perhaps, a five or ten year period?