Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I thank all Deputies who made contributions which were wide-ranging and interesting. I single out for particular thanks Deputies O'Dowd and Gay Mitchell. I wish to take up the last point made by Deputy Mitchell which was a very good one. It does appear to me that there is a degree of savagery in the way we do public business and this does us very little credit. The point he made about mercy and occasionally standing back from cases and saying, there but for the grace of God go I, might have a wider application than just the issue of the Bill itself.

Deputies O'Dowd and Gay Mitchell spoke about the disadvantages of marginalised groups and their participation in normal, civic activities. I accept this as a principle to which I sign up personally. The Bill is a modest but worthwhile step in this regard. I acknowledge that Deputy Gay Mitchell has campaigned in this regard. I also share both of these Deputies' views that it is important to take forward electoral reform on a cross-party, consensual basis. I wonder therefore at some of the other contributions that were made in the House today but I will not be contentious in that regard.

The question was specifically raised by Deputy O'Dowd and a somewhat tangential but not unrelated question was raised by Deputy Fiona O'Malley. Deputy O'Dowd's question related to non-nationals. The point is that everybody has to be on the register of electors before they can vote. This applies to non-nationals in exactly the same way as it applies to nationals, EU voters, UK citizens and everybody else in the country. There is no differentiation here. It is a prerequisite that a person be ordinarily resident in the State in order to be included in the voting register. Therefore, any non-national who can establish that he or she is ordinarily resident in the State immediately prior to his or her detention — in the case of non-nationals who are in detention — can of course vote in local elections. I wish to reassure Deputy O'Dowd that no change is proposed in that regard.

Deputy Fiona O'Malley queried whether Irish citizens in prisons abroad are entitled to vote. It is a somewhat surprising question because I would have thought, particularly by reference to the closing comments of Deputy Gay Mitchell, that the definition of prison in section 1 of the Bill is confined to prisoners in the State. The rest of the Bill adheres to this definition. Postal voting has been provided for prisoners in this country only. It is not a global extension.

Deputy O'Dowd referred to canvassing in prisons. It is a colourful thought to which I have not given much personal consideration. I think he would acknowledge that it would not be appropriate to make a provision in the Bill for the issue of canvassing in prison, although we will give some thought to the issue of how information gets through to prisoners.

Deputy Gilmore asked a most serious question as to whether the Prison Service could protect the integrity and the secrecy of prisoners' votes. I would hope the answer to that question would be "Yes". He also asked if a prisoner could be subject to improper pressure to vote in a specific way. It would be the responsibility of the Prison Service to ensure that no improper pressure is brought to bear on a prisoner who is exercising his or her right to franchise. Certainly, that is the case in all other institutions in which people may find themselves resident.

Deputy Gilmore also raised a number of technical but important issues. He specifically related this to the work of the Irish Penal Reform Trust. I will reflect on the issues he raised and I look forward to the necessary detailed discussion on Committee Stage. A couple of points he made are certainly ones which require further consideration. I may make arrangements for my staff to contact the trust on the issue.

A number of Deputies made specific points on the electoral register. It is a bit choice at this stage for Deputies to try to have it both ways. Earlier this year there was something approaching hysteria on the matter of the electoral register and Deputies and the media pointed out — correctly in my view — that the register was in a mess. Deputy Gay Mitchell asked why it is in such a mess. It is a good question because local authorities have a statutory responsibility to keep the register up to date. I believe the criticism which was made about the register earlier this year is correct. There is of the order of 300,000 people's names on the register which should not be on it and there are many hundreds of thousands of people who should be on the register who are not on it. In this day and age, this is not appropriate.

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