Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I have outlined a number of reasons already for the difference in the work involved regarding the census and the electoral register. I should be concerned if we were to diminish the role of the people involved in conducting the census work. There is a legal issue as well to be considered. The Statistics Act 1993 deals with the whole issue of confidentiality in respect of the information provided. There are restrictions. I refer to one aspect of the legislation which provides that all information furnished by a person, undertaking or public authority under this Act shall be used only for statistical compilation and analysis purposes. There is a very different focus on the work being done by the census people. They are involved in statistics. It is really a one-way street and there are confidentiality issues. It is an independent body involved in planning.

The electoral register, on the other hand, is the responsibility of the local authority and there is an onus on the householder as well to deal with the questions. There are problems and the Deputy has mentioned the figures. There is a voting discrepancy, I believe, of the order of 300,000. I totally accept that there are major issues to be addressed, but the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is dealing with these matters specifically. It is a matter of resources.

My view is that in both situations the Internet should be used in both cases. The Internet will obviously be central to the work of the next census. That is being done in places such as Canada and New Zealand. Some local authorities make use of the Internet to allow people to check whether they are on the register. Many issues can be dealt with and there are ways for improving both operations. However, the work of the census is very focused and independent and is vitally important. I am concerned about jelling both processes.

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