Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Whatever happens with the electoral register, and for as long as I have been around as a politician there have been problems with it, work is ongoing at present. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, is examining proposals, some of which are short-term, concerning the electoral register for the coming winter, which begins around November and is completed around February. There are also issues about how the electoral register is handled in a long-term way. I have long been of the view that one will almost have to separate it and do it in a different way because it will never work the way it is currently done. One must examine how the census is compiled and other processes, but it will never work under the present system. It has always been very inefficient and deficient in every way. It has never been any other way.

While it may not be strictly in order, the other issue raised by Deputy Sargent, I am still pursuing it and we are getting a great deal of co-operation on North-South issues, in fairness to the Secretary of State, Mr. Hain. That is one of the issues we have asked him to try to help us with.

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