Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

They made it absolutely clear that they could not, and would not, do the two jobs together.

We must be serious about this, which I thought Deputy Kenny was, although I have grave reservations as to whether Deputy Rabbitte is.

Looking back over several elections, there were always between 300,000 and 400,000 additional people on the register. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, is making a genuine effort and has moved on the issues of errors in the register, areas not registered properly and data not being dealt with properly in conjunction with local authorities who are the front line people in this matter. He is giving them the resources to improve the register for next autumn and winter. It is a big task and it is no good making the issues simplistic.

The importance of local authorities' cross-checking the register with other databases available to them has been highlighted. It is not the case that the Minister pulled back. He made clear what he believed could be dealt with and explored in databases. For those really interested in this, the Minister's efforts are more likely to get us a better register by 15 February of next year than any register we have had during the past 15 years. He should be supported.

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