Michael Mulcahy (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Gilmore and the Labour Party for presenting this Bill and opening a debate on the accuracy of the electoral register. It is welcome that the Labour Party has used its Private Members' time to that end. An argument can be made in favour of this Bill because it is possible that this process, like many other processes, needs to be centralised. It should not be forgotten that it is already centralised to a certain extent, however, because the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has an overall responsibility to ensure that each local authority compiles an accurate register. The members of each local authority are responsible for ensuring the authority is doing its job correctly.

I welcome this debate, which underlines that the system is an amateurish and inadequate shambles that allows for the possibility of personation. I am sure everyone in this House and most people involved in local authorities will agree. It has been brought to my attention that a number of voters in my local authority area are listed on the electoral register as living in certain flat complexes, but that information does not correspond with the housing rental records. How can one be on the register of electors if one is not living in the premises in which one is recorded as being resident? If this debate helps to make the entire system, which is antediluvian, more professional I would support that.

The Minister has outlined in recent days a series of measures which he intends to take to improve the situation. Much greater use should be made of technology in this regard. A proper computer system would immediately notice that a person in a local authority area is registered at two separate addresses. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government should monitor that computer system. I agree with the Minister that the establishment of a commission would not achieve much more than the creation of a new body. I am surprised the Labour Party has made such a suggestion because I know many people in that party, like many people in my party, have frequently argued for the decentralisation of powers and for making powers more local, as opposed to more centralised. I do not want to let local authorities off the hook with regard to their obligations. I do not want another semi-State body, non-governmental organisation, quango or whatever to have power and responsibility removed from this House. I want the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to be accountable to this House for the state of the register and I believe he is. When it comes to technology, electronic voting may have been useable. Despite it being used in two elections in 1997 without any problem, the same technology all of a sudden is totally unacceptable for this general election. Members of the Dáil must come into the 21st century and embrace modern technology and not be afraid of it. We must be consistent in bringing technology forward.

Citizens have an obligation to register. I do not accept the point made by some people that there is no publicity about this. There are always advertisements on television, on the radio stations and in the print media encouraging people to register for the draft and final registers. Citizens must be aware of their obligations. It is their duty to check that they are on the register and if not, to ensure they are registered. Most people I know want to be registered. They want to have a vote. Whether they cast their votes in an election is another matter. However, there is an obligation on the citizen to ensure that he or she is registered and in a position to vote at the next election.

The other area we need to emphasise is that of personation and identification. It is not compulsory to show identification when one goes to get a ballot paper. Only if challenged is one required to produce identification. It should be compulsory for every person to give some type of identification before he or she votes, a credit card bill, utility bill, passport or driver's licence, for instance. That would go a long way to cutting out personation.

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