Mr. Enda Falvey:

We receive representations about the register, the supplement to the register and the procedures governing them. We also receive suggestions like the ones made by the Deputy to the effect that we make it easier to be included in the supplementary register. It is the case that if one cannot get a garda to sign the form, one can go to the local authority as an alternative, but that may also involve a 20 minute wait. I do not suggest the system is perfect. The Deputy’s suggestion was not to abandon the current approach but to put an alternative system in place whereby one would be obliged to produce identification at a polling station. Taking all of that on board, the background to the issue with the supplement was that owing to the short period of time involved, there was a need to make sure the system was robust and not subject to any malpractice in comparison to the ordinary registration process.