Dáil debates

Wednesday, 8 March 2006

11:00 am

Photo of Trevor SargentTrevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

Does the Chief Whip accept that the current situation where the CSO is seen to be quite separate from the issue of the electoral register needs to be addressed? The comparison with the foot and mouth disease when matters were not left to the local Teagasc offices to deal with is apposite. It was very much a matter for the Government to take a lead and lay down not just guidelines but requirements in terms of standards.

In terms of the proper working of democracy in Ireland, does he accept that the Government must take account of the fact that we have a serious problem with the electoral register, which the CSO needs to be involved in resolving? Is there a role for the CSO, for example, if we are to use PPS numbers, which I favour, in verifying the authenticity of people's existence and their entitlement to vote? Has the Chief Whip a view on the disparity between the population of about 4 million and the fact that we have between 5 million and 9 million PPS numbers? Some people who are dead still have PPS numbers. Married women in some cases use their husbands' PPS numbers while having PPS numbers of their own. Some citizens live outside the State and are precluded from voting on that basis, which is an issue that we might perhaps come back to. Before we think further about PPS numbers, however, we must resolve the disparities that exist in that area.

On that basis, does the Chief Whip agree that an independent franchise section is needed at central Government level — whether in the Department of the Environment Heritage and Local Government or the CSO — rather than simply leaving matters to local authorities, which have so many different standards in place that the type of system we have at the moment is not dependable? We have a central election section but not a central franchise section. Does the Chief Whip agree that we should have that if this matter is to be resolved?

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