Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

It would have an interesting knock-on effect. If we corrected the register it might have an impact in that sense. The Democracy Commission produced a report last year. I was involved in its preparation and the main conclusion it came to was that there was much confusion about the electoral register. The statistics showed that 41% of 18 and 19 year olds did not vote and half that cohort had procedural problems with the register. People did not have polling cards or they were away from home or were confused about what was going on. That is a significant number and the same scenario could be applied to people in general in the under-25 age group.

I had wanted to go through other matters here. My colleagues have rehearsed the problems in trying to set up an electoral registration commission in the next few months. This will not be practicable. I would like to see a wider electoral commission, as recommended by the Democracy Commission. I would like to see not only enumerators and An Post, but also students being invited to work over the summer in correcting the register and providing us with the type of accuracy that is required.

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