Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan. This is a very positive Bill and proposal. We are all aware that elections and referendums are an important feature of the democratic process. It is exciting and important. The previous committee did a lot of work on this and we made several recommendations, one of which was around education, the promotion of elections, and research. This is important but with that must come funding and it must be ring-fenced. More important, one of the points we made as a committee was that any research would be published. I believe it is important that there is a very open and transparent process around any research and that it is public knowledge. I would like to hear from the Minister of State about the proposals in that regard.

I welcome the proposal for pre-registration for 16 to 18-year-olds. I would like people being able to vote from the age of 16, certainly as a start at local elections. Clearly, that is not going to happen despite a lot of talk by many of the main political parties. It has not been mentioned. Perhaps the Minister of State will outline for the committee if there is a view or a feeling within the Government that this might be reviewed within the life of the Government.

The pre-registration is very important and positive. To suggest that the electoral registers are in any way in good shape across the 31 local authorities would be crazy. They are a mess. People are on registers who have been dead for ten years. This is my experience of some registers, having been involved in elections for a long time. I thought the commission would have a more centralised system but this is clearly not an option.

I welcome the idea that we could tap into local knowledge, as one of the Minister of State's officials has already said. I agree with that but we would, therefore, need to resource the local authorities. I know from my local authority that for many years it has not gone out to do field work. By field work I refer to door-to-door knocking, which would have traditionally been done, to check the registers and to see and encourage people.

I would like to hear more about the resources that will be given to local authorities. I heard this morning from one of the Minister of State's officials that each local authority will be asked to do an annual report on how it is engaging and working on its registers. I welcome that. Overall, it is a positive proposal and I fully support it.

The only question I want to ask is in respect of the marked registers. Deputy Ó Broin pointed out earlier that these are very important for those studying elections and for identifying groups or areas where people are engaging. It is important information which is only held for so many months after an election. What plans does the electoral reform Bill include for the management of those important registers? Are there any plans to change it? I thank the Minister of State and his officials for attending the committee today.