Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Department for the report. This is the biggest problem. People who may have voted in five or six elections and referenda may suddenly find at the polling station that their name has been taken off the register. These are people who answer any letters that are sent and it is unbelievable to think their names have been removed from the register. To get on it is one thing, but some people have been removed when the tradition has been there of voting ten or 20 times. When a person suddenly walks in to find he or she has been removed, is there any mechanism where a person who has voted before can be reinstated on the day? It is terribly unfair where people have travelled miles and really want to vote having done so in the past at the same station. The returning officer in the station is there for a lifetime and knows the people who come in and who have voted before. The returning officer will have marked the person off the register five or even ten times, yet because the name has been removed for whatever reason, it does not seem logical that a list would vary on a subsequent occasion without people knowing. There is no doubt in my mind that people have been removed from the register without being informed or notified.

On the previous referendum, I thought the Irish and English versions were on top of one another and it was very difficult to determine what was on the paper. That led to a great deal of confusion. There was a huge number of spoiled votes in the previous two referenda of approximately 15,000. That is a great many where only a simple question is being asked. The possibility of having Irish and English separated on front and back should be looked at.

The real issue is a person's right to vote, especially those who have done so already and have a voting history at a polling station. Some mechanism must be put in place to allow them to vote again. We had a big story about the Bible being in every polling station. What is it there for if it is not going to be used to allow a person to vote whom the returning officer has seen vote in the past but whose name has been taken off the register? If the person swears on the Bible and it is confirmed by the people in the station, what more honesty and integrity can we have to allow a person to use the right to vote?