Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. This is the committee's third meeting on the issue of setting up of an electoral commission. Reference was made to the level of abuses over the years in relation to registration, in respect of which the message appears to be that this could be addressed by way of PPS numbers. Last week, I met a group from USI, which represents 300,000 students across the island of Ireland and registered 28,000 students prior to the recent marriage equality referendum. One of the main issues about which it expressed concern was how slow checktheregister.ieis to update.

Reference was made to each local authority being responsible for its own register. Is this the way forward in relation to getting people on the register? In the past, we had rate collectors in every county. However, that is no longer the case. What is the best way forward in terms of getting people on the register? We know from previous elections, including the most recent referendum, that there is often a clamouring to get on the supplementary register at the last moment. I referred previously to abuses in the context of the last local election, when people who were not in the country were included on the register. Despite the fact that many of those registered were living in Australia, Canada, America and so on, they were included on the supplementary register. These are the issues that need to be addressed.

In regard to the boundary changes, it was mentioned that this should not be a function of the electoral commission. How or by whom should this be managed? Following boundary changes in my own constituency, Sligo-Leitrim, Cavan and Donegal are part of the same constituency. I would welcome the witnesses' response to the issues I have raised.