Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State and his officials on their work on this. It is an outstanding piece of work and probably the biggest piece of legislation the Minister of State has brought during this Dáil.

I congratulate Deputy O'Callaghan on bringing this to discussion today. Whether it forms part of the legislation or not, it should inform the first piece of work for the commission and is something we possibly need to review. While reviewing voting rights and entitlements, there is also a need for significant research into the electoral registers and the number of people on the register who do not vote, particularly what some call the new Irish or new communities in Ireland.

This Government has made notable changes to try to empower newcomers to Ireland. The most significant was probably the recent local authority mortgage, whereby we allowed for the first time stamp 4 holders to apply. Previously, they were not able to apply for the Rebuilding Ireland home loan.

We pride ourselves as an inclusive, vibrant and modern country and an intrinsic part of that is extending the voting franchise. There is an important piece of work done there and I would be happy if the Minister of State would give a commitment that it would be part of the workload for the new commission.