Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)

I do not know what the aim of this flexibility is. Did the Minister have in mind the flexibility to personate someone? Anyone, regardless of age, must produce identification when he or she wishes to collect a pension, access a post office account or obtain a residential parking disc from a local authority. Regardless of the transaction they are engaged in, people require identification, and rightly so. However, one does not need to produce identification when one is electing a Government. Even under the Minister's new arrangement, 75% of voters can present themselves with no identification. They do not even require a polling card. All they need to produce is a name and address, and if challenged, they can walk away. This is the democratic process, Fianna Fáil style.

The Minister was correct in saying that I have raised this question for very good reasons since I entered this House because I have witnessed what went on in polling stations in my constituency, activity which was not confined to Fianna Fáil.

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