Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Has the Minister of State sought advice as to whether placing a requirement for annual registration on people who are homeless, when that is not being applied to anyone else, is discriminatory? What was the advice given on that matter? How can the Minister of State argue that this is not a form of discrimination against people who, through no fault of their own, are homeless?

I take from what the Minister of State has said that because the local authorities will be able to assist with the registration process, this will mitigate somewhat the onerous requirement to register annually. We all know that local authorities have different priorities in terms of how they allocate resources and how they operate voter registration. Indeed, this is one of reasons the electoral commission is being set up. There is a huge variation in how local authorities interact with, engage and support homeless people with regard to their housing needs. Needless to say, as we all know from our representational work, many people who have become homeless feel deeply disappointed by the level of engagement with them, the lack of support and way they are met with bureaucracy sometimes, notwithstanding the very good work that some people in local authorities do to support them. To suggest that the same local authorities that people feel they are being failed by in the context of their housing needs are best placed to assist them with this onerous requirement for an annual registration is problematic.

As the Minister of State and Deputy Ó Broin both stated, people who have lost their homes are very politically engaged. They are often facing so many different challenges that if they can get to the point of being registered to vote, that is a step forward. It seems unfair that they could potentially lose that because they miss out on the annual registration, which is not being required of anyone else. It seems that we are taking a step forward in one respect in this Bill but then we are taking a step backwards through these onerous requirements.

If the concern is the fact that the person may be changing address or moving to different emergency accommodation, an annual registration is not going to sort that because there could be multiple moves with the year. The provision for an annual registration is not going to address that issue. The rationale for it does not hold up. A person who is homeless could be moving around a lot so if he or she falls off the electoral register as a result of this requirement, that is deeply unfair.

I ask the Minister of State to address that point and to outline any advice he received as to whether this provision is discriminatory. How does he believe it is not discriminatory?