Ms Fiona Quinn:

This is at the core of some of the issues we are looking at in respect of electoral register reform. When the document states much work has been done, that refers to the preparatory scoping work. There is a significant technical input for a project of this type, so we have been looking at all of the potential methods we can try to address these issues. To address the Senator's point on PPSNs, that is a good example and certainly one of the options we have been looking at.

We have much consultation with local authorities and the experts in those authorities who run the franchise sections. On the data aspect, there are data protection issues regarding the PPSN. We are clarifying all of those things and that is the preparatory work we have been doing. It has led us to a series of proposals, which can be seen in the document, on what we should examine. Regarding young people and how to better engage them in registering, one of the things we are proposing is that we would look at optional online registration for that cohort and generation. That is probably a method those of that age would prefer rather than paper-based methods. We will need a balance because some people will still prefer the paper-based approach and we will have to cater for them.

If we want to look at optional online registration, as we propose as one of the suite of options, from our perspective we need to balance the security concerns and requirements that arise from that. It is possible to do that. Those are the technical issues we have been looking at and will continue to look at. A few hundred thousand people may have registered for initiatives such as www.mygov.ie. Those people have gone through a process of verifying their identity so why not set up a situation where they can use that verification and can manage their own information online?