Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Indeed, that seems to be the case since the Taoiseach entered politics. The problem is that we have a register which, according to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, could contain as many as 800,000 inaccuracies, with an electorate of approximately 2 million.

How can the Taoiseach give those answers with a straight face and tell the House he is glad there is now an urgency about this? Where is the urgency? The Minister in the House last week voted against the Labour Party Bill introduced by Deputy Gilmore and all the beauties on the backbenches followed his lead. Having voted down a Bill that provided a statutory basis for the use of third party databases, the Minister then went out and gave one of his many didactic interviews on radio in which he said that the use of third party databases would be the ideal solution and he instanced ESB bills as an example. Later in the day he had to change his view when he found there was no legislative basis for that. How can the Taoiseach conclude that this is a man who is on top of a job and who has thought about this issue any more deeply than his predecessors thought about the electronic voting machines, which have cost us €60 million? What is the basis for this?

The Taoiseach spent Easter paying homage to the founders of the State. He is now administering a State where we cannot even have the right to vote, although he admits that he provides for the dead generations to vote. How are we supposed to take this seriously?

How much money is the Taoiseach providing for the shank's mare exercise to which he has referred? How long will it take? Does he accept that he is disabled, as Taoiseach, from calling a general election on a register that is admitted by his own Minister to contain more than 500,000 inaccuracies? The Taoiseach could not call a general election in those circumstances. How soon will the exercise be ready and will it be completed in time for the production of the register on 1 November next? What happens when members of the shank's mare force arrive at an apartment in which two families are registered but nobody is at home? Do they erase them, in which case there might be a problem or do they not erase them, which also might cause a problem? Does the Taoiseach know, for example, whether it is intended to set aside the existing electoral register and start anew or simply to make additions to the current register, leaving the dead generations on it?

Has the Minister thought about any of these issues? He gives interviews and, somewhat like the Taoiseach, describes the problem. We know what the problem is. Everybody in the House knows. Deputy Roche is the Minister who, according to section 18 of the Electoral Act 1992, has a responsibility to "ensure the smooth and efficient registration of electors". That is the responsibility of the Minister, not the local authorities whom he has been blaming for the past two days. What did the Minister do when my colleague, Deputy Quinn, raised this matter a number of months ago? What did he do when the Labour Party published its Bill? What did he do when Deputy Gilmore raised the matter at successive question times? Did he ever take it seriously? What action has been taken? Does the Minister accept that the Act says he has the responsibility for the "smooth and efficient registration of electors"?

Did the Minister examine, for example, the Social Welfare Consolidation Bill going through the House? That legislation provides for the exchange of databases between certain named public bodies. Could we not in a one-line amendment to the Bill authorise access to that information for the purposes of the electoral register? Is anybody in the Department examining the possible solutions because the Taoiseach's shank's mare team certainly will not authorise him to call an autumn general election, which would be devoutly desired by most citizens at this stage?

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