Mr. Enda Falvey:

This is a perennial difficulty as the members will appreciate more than me having had it on the call lists every time they go back to the people to get another mandate to return to the Houses of the Oireachtas. There is always some difficulty or confusion generated by the register. The register system is quite simple if one is familiar with it, but if one is not familiar with it, it can pose a few problems. Every November, the Department engages in awareness initiatives for people voting for the first time to encourage people to register to vote. It may be that some of this does not hit home as an election is not in the offing. Colloquially, the last referendum appeared very much to appeal to younger people because of the issues involved and some of them may have decided too late to interact with the register process. There is an opportunity if one is an eligible voter to get on the supplement to the register up to 14 days before polling day, which is reasonably generous. Most people no matter what their age were well aware coming up to the referendum that it was on 22 May and would have had a reasonable prospect of being able to get on the register. I am not saying it is an easy system, but they would have had the opportunity to interact with it.

As for people being taken off the register, local authorities manage the register and we encourage them to manage in such a way that it reflects the actual electorate. There is a process, God help us, whereby people who die are removed from the register, but there should be no reason for a willy-nilly removal. The legislation provides a detailed system for taking people off the register. One cannot just remove them, but must contact them to notify them and show good cause.