Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

The electoral system belongs to the people, not to one political party or government. During the course of this Dáil, the only significant intervention made in this regard has been on one side of the argument, namely, on behalf of the Government. Without listening to Members on this side, the Government's hubris was evident in its decision to plough ahead and buy electronic voting machines for more than €50 million. These machines are now kept in cold storage at an annual cost of at least €1 million.

Perfecting the electoral register has occupied minds for some time. The Fianna Fáil Party has been in power for 16 of the past 20 years and if ever the electoral register was in a mess, it is under this Minister. He only needed to examine the position in Northern Ireland where, according to the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland:

From 2007. . . the Register published on 1 December 2006 will be continually updated using information obtained from electors. Any person who is eligible can register at any time and many will be contacted by the Electoral Office as a result of information obtained from government bodies (such as DVLNI, NI Housing Executive and Rates Collection Agency) regarding changes of residence. Updates to the Register will be published on the first working day of each month and a revised version of the Register will be published on 1 December each year.

The authorities in Northern Ireland have got the system right. It avoids electoral fraud while allowing for the names of voters, for example, those who have died or new residents, to be added or removed from the electoral register. It is beyond the capacity of the Government to introduce a similar system here.

The Minister should be embarrassed that he requires a special hour-long debate to pass amendments he should have brought before the House in the legislation. He did not listen to members of the public, Opposition Deputies or Fianna Fáil Party Members who requested during the Committee Stage debate that he extend the deadline to allow local authorities to sort out problems they had encountered. During that debate, I referred to County Roscommon where letters to electors did not issue before the draft register was drawn up, with the result that thousands of people are probably still receiving letters indicating that their names have been removed from the register and they will lose their vote if they do not respond quickly.

The register is a mess because the Minister did not listen and refuses to learn. The Government needs to pass control of the electoral register to an electoral commission. The recent political rows and debates on this issue would not have occurred if it had seen fit to give an organisation such as the Referendum Commission responsibility for managing the franchise, voting system and register of electors.

I have tabled amendments on Report Stage of the Bill providing that a person who reaches the age of 18 years and is or shall be, on the qualifying date, a citizen of Ireland and ordinarily resident in the relevant constituency shall be automatically registered as a voter in the constituency referred to. These amendments should be accepted.

On Committee Stage, the Minister provided a long document outlining the reasons personal public service — PPS — numbers could not be used for the purpose of the electoral register. The authorities in Northern Ireland use the equivalent of the PPS to compile their electoral register. The Government has failed to introduce an honest and fair method to allow citizens to have their names placed on the electoral register and cast their vote without problems or doubts arising regarding electoral fraud.

The Taoiseach publicly supports the Minister, arguing that the system is fine when the contrary is the case. The Minister stated it is easy to have one's name added to the supplementary electoral register at election time. Once the new register is issued on 12 February, those seeking to have their names added to it will be required to fill out a form and attend a Garda station where a garda must attest that they are living at the address indicated on the form. The form must then be sent to the county council which must send an official to check the address. These requirements were introduced for good reason, namely, to avoid fraud. They would be fine if the register were correct but the register to be issued in February is not correct. The Sunday Tribune and Sunday Independent newspapers analysed the registration process and noted significant problems. We will not be in a position to determine whether these are errors until the register becomes available.

The comparative figures provided by the Minister indicate that the number of people on the electoral register in County Louth increased by more than 3,000 since the last register was taken, whereas in the adjoining County Meath the number of names on the electoral register fell by more than 20,000 in the same period. Something is seriously amiss in one of these counties. Given that both are important growth areas on the periphery of Dublin which have experienced significant influxes of population, how could the number of names on the register increase by 3,000 in County Louth and decrease by 20,000 in County Meath? Either the register in the former has been stuffed with fraudulent voters or the register in the latter has not been compiled correctly. Officials in County Louth inform me they employed 43 enumerators to check it and they are satisfied it is accurate. The figures published in yesterday's Irish Independent, however, show a significant variation between counties.

Clearly the problem is that there is no central control of the register. Until there is an electoral commission in place with statutory powers to run elections, to handle the register of electors and to examine issues such as electronic voting and the voting machines there will be problems.

The Committee on Electronic Voting has been disbanded so we have to rely on the Minister's good offices to test the machines. We are concerned about this but it is happening because the Minister refused to listen and the Government believes it owns the system. Fianna Fáil has been in government for 18 of the last 20 years but it now believes it owns the whole country, the voting machines, the voting system and the electoral register.

The Government has not listened to us but democracy is a two-way process. The Opposition spoke about electronic voting, pointing out the problems we faced, and we also spoke about the electoral register. I am not saying the Minister does not have good intentions. He set out to tackle the issue but the end result is worse than the initial position. There are deep concerns about this process that will become apparent when people find they are not on the register. If 5,000 people in Fingal find they are not on the register in the run-up to the election and they apply for inclusion on the supplementary register, the council must visit where they live, but there will not be enough time to do that. That is the mess in which we find ourselves.

The Minister cannot extend the deadline for inclusion on the register by two weeks unless we amend the Bill. We do not oppose the amendment but it is too little too late. The Minister said it is not possible to extend the deadline beyond December but he should ask the Attorney General to re-examine this and extend the period until the end of January. Whatever date is chosen, the register would then be final. That would give everyone a chance to ensure they are on it. Unless that is done, and I acknowledge the procedural difficulties, there will be a catastrophe. That is what the media tell us and it is what the figures show.

We must take control of the register from the Minister and give it to an independent body if we are to tackle this problem. If he is returned to office, the Minister could read out a clear guide from an electoral office for Ireland, which will ensure the register is updated monthly and anyone who wishes to be included is included. That will not be possible under this system and there will be an awful lot of confusion in the run-up to the general election.

The election results will be open to legal challenges. If I apply for the supplementary register, how can the council know I will be there when it sends someone out to check? If there are 5,000 addresses to check in some constituencies, it will be a major problem. Those who have properly tried to be included on the supplementary register will not be on it. Seats have been won and lost by a handful of votes and this election will go to the wire.

The Minister has made a mess of this and the Government has acted in an arrogant and unacceptable manner. The problems are now coming home to roost and people are angry. It is time, even at this late stage, to extend the deadline to at least the end of January, the difficulties it may cause for administrators notwithstanding.

The day has gone when local government authorities can look after the register. They do not have the necessary databases or knowledge. Many local authorities have no local charges to allow for the construction of such a database on households. The lists they use are out of date and it is not their job anyway. An independent authority should be established to register people automatically in conjunction with an agency such as An Post, which delivers mail every day. An Post knows where people live and should be allowed to deal with this in future. It is time for local authorities to move away from the issue because in counties with significant population increases, they do not have the time or resources to ensure an accurate register. This is a mess and it is the Minister's fault.

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