Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I congratulate my colleague, Deputy Gilmore, on bringing forward this Bill and Deputy Quinn who has spoken frequently on this important issue. As others said, people died for the right to vote, which we recently commemorated and which is fundamental to democracy. We must have two broad objectives. We must ensure nobody is deprived of their vote. That is a problem, especially in the new communities and building areas where it may be difficult, if not impossible, to register. The second objective must be to stop people who are willing to commit electoral fraud and personation to gain what potentially could be a hugely significant impact in terms of additional votes.

Some candidates and parties so believe in their right to win, regardless of the rules, that they can have a field day if they are willing to abuse the chaos of the current electoral register. Landlords in many locations can pick up voting cards — in some cases by the dozen — and pass them on to candidates and parties willing to chance their arm and commit electoral fraud. If the Garda does not have much success apprehending people for murder and serious crimes of violence against the person, what are the chances of it seriously prosecuting people who decide to take a minimal risk and get involved in electoral fraud?

The Minister should bear in mind what a team of ten people with hard necks and a willingness to personate could do. The polls are open for 13 hours on election day and most constituencies have been 20 and 50 polling stations. One would not need to be an armchair general to work out a schedule. A team of people could start at around 8.30 a.m., have tea and biscuits at lunchtime and continue to personate until the evening. They could perhaps go to the count centre the next day to look at the count results. They could carry out hundreds of voting personations. If they were in any way ingenious about it, were prepared to use the odd headscarf, wig or change of jacket and move around in a disciplined quasi-military way, God knows what they would be able to do in terms of votes in sensitive constituencies.

I was particularly struck by what a number of Deputies from the Minister's party said. After the previous general election, they told me how surprised they were to find a massive surge in voting by people they did not know from Adam late in the day at large polling stations in the Dublin area. Deputy Costello spoke about Dublin Central. The extraordinary surge in voting late in the day in certain polling stations in parts of Dublin Central was mentioned to me.

Let us be realistic about the challenge. Some challenges to democracy come in a particular format and involve direct undermining of, and making physical threats against, the State. However, making a threat by way of voter fraud could have as dramatic an impact on the future of Government and representation in this country. Although the Government has tut-tutted in recent times about this, I am not sure it has taken the issue seriously enough.

There are a number of issues in respect of Dublin West. There are thousands of new houses and many new communities, including people coming to live there from elsewhere in the country and from all over the world. There are groups of residents who are new to the area. Housing estates of 1,500 to 2,500 houses built over a three or four-year period are not untypical in Dublin West.

The political scéal and folktale was that in the wintertime, Fianna Fáil branches, in particular in constituencies such as the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny, sat in the local pub, pored over the register and had a bit of an argument about whether somebody was really living at home or whether they had gone to college or were working in England and America. Removing a name from, or adding one to, the register was hard fought between political parties. It was one of the functions of rural branches of political parties, and it probably still is.

However, what does one do in a constituency such as Dublin West with 2,500 houses in an estate? People are lucky enough to know the neighbour on either side of them. I do not know of the political party which has the intelligence to be able to sit in judgment on who is really living in the 2,500 houses in an estate. I see the Minister pointing opposite. That is quite scary.

There is also a phenomenon where in constituencies such as Dublin West, 15% to 25% of houses in some areas are rented. For the most part, the landlords stay on the register. Where should a landlord be registered? Is it where the landlord lives or the property which he or she may own but may have left to move down to Wicklow to be closer to the Minister, for example? Where are these people meant to be registered?

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