Terry Brennan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for not being present for the presentations but we had three divisions in the Seanad and, therefore, I was late. I am not sure who the county manager or the county registrar was at the time but I met a guy at a meeting either before the previous general election or the previous local elections but he had voted nine or ten times in Northern Ireland. He had spent the day visiting polling stations in various parts of Northern Ireland. He was registered in County Louth and when I checked the then most recent supplementary register, his name was on it for County Louth and I discovered he was on the register five times in the county. I know he only had one vote where he lived. This happens more often than we think, particularly in Border counties, for whatever reason. Using PPS numbers is the only way to ensure this cannot happen whereby a number corresponds to a name. The person to whom I referred still lives in County Louth and I am sure he has only one vote now. Had I not been at a meeting and identified him with the help of a rates collector, I would not have known about this. I asked the rates collector whether this person was a chubby guy with a curly head and he said he was. He was on the register five times. We must stop this.

I refer to the issue of people living away from home. My children do not live at home. They did not have their bums on seats until they were off the register in County Louth. I blame that on a person locally who was keeping the register up to date. Depending on one's politics, one could be removed from the register. That is the reality. I know people on the register who are married with families in London and Belfast. I hope I have never done a bad turn against anyone and I do not intend reporting them but there has to be some way to ensure this does not happen.

I know of a family coming home in six weeks. If they were still on the register, they could vote. What I have described is the reality and it is happening.

When somebody dies, a public representative should be able to let the local authority know. I do not believe anybody would give false information on a death maliciously. We must ensure the registers are more up to date. I believe the only way to eliminate much of what is occurring is to use a PPS or PRSI number. If a person is away from home and has not used his PPS number for years, this should provoke the local authority into asking where that individual was for the years in question. I describe the reality. I know people married with families in London who are still on the local register. I do not know who is to blame and whether it is a result of party-political broadcasting. Perhaps that is the reason. In so far as we can, we should maintain the registers. We all have a contribution to make. We should have a more up-to-date register throughout the country. I am not singling out County Louth because conditions are very good there.