Ms Helen Dixon:

The Oireachtas can, of course, legislate to create solutions to the various issues we have heard about with the electoral register, but the solutions do not necessarily need to involve collecting additional personal data in each case. For example, data matching in relation to the existing register could be provided for by matching up against a consolidated Department of Social Protection website. When this was done in the UK, 66% of the entries on the register were validated automatically through data matching without the need for people to provide additional or personal information. Only the 34% that could not be matched then had to provide additional identity information. That is one solution that could be examined in the first instance. If the use of PPS numbers is legislated for - it may well be a viable solution in some of the issues that have been identified - we need to be clear that it does resolve the issues and that it does not create further issues. We need to be sure it does not create a chilling effect in terms of those seeking to register to vote. Deputy Coppinger mentioned some of the sensitivities we have seen around the use of PPS numbers. All of those could be mitigated.

If it is a good idea to use PPS numbers, a proper privacy impact assessment, which includes public consultation, to identify what the sensitivities are and explain why it has been proposed as a solution, will mitigate those risks.