Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I want to make one comment on the whole area of responsibility of my colleague, Deputy Roche, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. There are long-term changes in the system in view and proposals have been made which include linkages with the census. There is a reference to that. He also talks about the use of PPS numbers for electoral registration purposes, the use of postal codes and linkages with public utilities. From the viewpoint of the Department, the Minister in question will use everything at his or her disposal to make matters better.

To come back to my area of responsibility, which is the CSO, all types of new questions are coming in here, as I outlined in my reply. Many of these questions relate to disability, for example. A national survey of disability will be carried out in September as a result of the work being put into this census. Every person in the country on census night will be counted where they are, regardless of whether the venue is their own residence. Special attention will be paid to enumerating persons in communal establishments such as hostels and guest houses. There is also the matter of new ethnic communities living here to be considered. Disabilities and matters related to where people are working are among some of the new areas that we are pursuing.

Improvements in the electoral register certainly are needed and the Minister is putting new resources into this. Based on the facts he has shared with me, the total general purposes grants from the Department to local authorities in 2006 are up by €57 million. He is clearly very much aware of these issues. However, I am really saying that there are two separate issues to be considered. On the questioning and the work of the CSO, I am satisfied that it is pursuing the right approach. There are major resources going into this.

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