Mr. Ian Power:

The main issue in respect of the Deputy's frustration at people not being registered is the fact that it is not owned by anybody. Every year, more than 50,000 people turn 18 and it is nobody’s job to ensure they are registered. It is their job but they are not necessarily made aware of the necessity or the process of registering. Similarly, because the register closes at a particular point every year, it does not allow young people who turn 18 in the intervening period to register easily, particularly if there is an election or referendum called and they must get a garda’s signature. That is quite a cumbersome and potentially intimidating process for a young person to have to go through in order to register to vote. Online registration will have a huge impact on the registration of young people because it will make it simple for a generation which is digitally native and for whom doing things online is the norm. The marriage equality referendum was their first engagement with the system and anecdotally they could not believe they could not register online.

If a vote is to take place during term time, a Saturday is the ideal day for young people, particularly students who may need to travel back to wherever they live or their vote is assigned. If we had online registration making it easy to change their address they could change it to somewhere close to their place of learning. Simplification of the process will address the problem.