Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

A number of requests were made by political parties and local authorities seeking additional time to complete the work on the register. The deadline for members of the public to send corrections to the draft register is 25 November while that for the local authorities is 13 December. Local authorities and political parties have asked for the deadlines to be changed and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, therefore, has decided to extend the deadline for local authorities to complete their work on the register to 29 December. In these circumstances he has decided to give an additional fortnight to members of the public to submit corrections and he also decided to request councils to hold registration clinics in their offices and public libraries until 9 December to further facilitate the public. The advice on this, as I stated last week, is that this will probably require amendment. We will provide for these changes by amending the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006, which is before the House.

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