Ms Petra Woods:

Yes. A local authority can find duplications and has the power to remove them. That is the first aspect. The ultimate aim, as the Deputy said, is to have one single way of checking when people move around the country. That currently exists in Dublin. The four local authorities in Dublin use one shared system which finds people who are duplicated within them. The final strand of the modernisation process is the development of that system into a national system for everybody. That is due to be completed by mid-2026. It is in train and local authorities are gearing up for it. Dublin City Council is the designated registration authority managing that project for all local authorities. That will be possible.

The register has always depended on the work of local authorities, with the co-operation of the public. The local authorities have limited information. They do not have a civil registry, as exists in many other countries where people have to provide notice of each house move and so on. There is a requirement there.

We have made it easier for people to notify their local authorities. That is the first thing. There was always a means of third-party claims and we have made that process easier by making a form available on the website.

Any person.who has a belief that there is an inaccuracy on the register can bring it to the attention of the local authority. The local authority then has powers to act on that, investigate it and notify everybody concerned. As I said, the authority can make corrections as they come up.

On citizenship, when people apply to be on the register, they provide their nationality and that is the determinant. It is not arbitrary. The 1992 Act sets out very clearly the entitlement to vote in each type of electoral event. People put down their citizenship on the application and that determines their eligibility. If they are not happy with that, if someone makes an incorrect assumption or does not provide the information, or if the local authorities are not certain, they have the power - and have always had it - to ask for any information they need to compile the register. They can ask for a passport, proof of citizenship, a birth certificate or other forms of identity and identification. There is a very non-arbitrary way of doing that. In cases where people have been on the register for a very long time, they may also follow up on those if they think there is some issue with that.