Mr. Art O'Leary:

It is not just people with disabilities; it is also Travellers, immigrants and young people. I am astonished that schools do not take five minutes at the start of every school year to get students to use their iPads to register to vote. Those who are 16 and 17 years of age are able to pre-register to vote, which means their names will be added to the electoral register when they reach 18. I do know that 2% of 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds have pre-registered to vote. I do not look at this as necessarily a bad thing; I look at it as an opportunity because the other 98% have not pre-registered. These people are a marketer's dream. We know who they are - they are 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds and we know where they are. Between September and May, they are in school. We also know that they are there between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. We should be able to target them much better than we currently do.

In the context of anyone who is experiencing difficulties with the costs associated with registering, what I would say is that registering takes such a short time. All we need is someone's personal public service number, their date of birth and their eircode, and in two minutes and 57 seconds, we can get them on the register. It takes no time at all. It could be done when someone is attending a meeting, having lunch or whatever at a community centre. As I mentioned briefly to the Chairman, we were in St. Munchin's Community Centre in Limerick during the mayoral election campaign. It was brilliant to see a group of engaged people. I am not sure how happy they were that we interrupted their game of bingo, but went in and encouraged them all to vote in the election. These are the spaces in which we need to be.