Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)

I do not know where to start after what I have heard. I welcome the final comments of the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, who said there is not much difference between the intentions of the Government and the Opposition in respect of this matter. I was disappointed with the negative initial response of the Minister, Deputy Roche, to this Bill, although what is new about that?

He said no responsible Government could support this Bill. I am not sure whether the Minister is attributing that status to the current Government which cannot be put in that category. However, he clearly laid it on the line that if he thinks this is a responsible Government, it is not supporting the Bill. That was a negative response to a genuine attempt to solve this problem.

I thank Deputy Gilmore for bringing this excellent Bill forward. We fully support it on this side of the House and will not be negative about it in any way. Something like this legislation has to be introduced because the state of the electoral register is an absolute disgrace. It is time this issue was debated as the nation prepares to hand back its census forms. It was timely, too, that the Government at the weekend alerted the media that census enumerators may be charged with updating the register. It is typical of the Government to magically come up with a proposal that seeks to outflank the Opposition a few days before this Private Members' Bill was introduced in the House.

The last time my party, for example, was due to debate the nitrates Bill, on a Tuesday, the Government introduced its proposals on the preceding Friday. Its proposals on what to do about property management companies miraculously appeared a few days before we produced a reasoned Private Members' Bill on apartment complexes.

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