Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

There is no argument but that this is a bit of a mess. One of the cornerstones of democratic behaviour has been called into question as we approach what will be a very important general election. It behoves us all to ensure this mess is sorted out as soon as possible. It also raises questions as to how many elections have been held on a near fraudulent basis. As was mentioned, elections have thrown up unusual results. Not only could future elections be challenged because of the way this is being handled but previous elections could be called into question given the system we have used to compile the electoral register.

We need to move beyond a stop-gap, band-aid measure such as that which the Minister has been forced to introduce here. We need to put in place fail-safe mechanisms and technology exists that may allow us to do that. We need to put in place procedures on how we identify residents and citizens. A proposal made by my party and supported by others is the use of personal public service, PPS, numbers that would allow people to be registered and would allow for their movement around, in and out of the country.

There are other structural faults the Minister has, to date, been unwilling to tackle. Each local authority is given responsibility for compiling the register but each has a different standard and approach. In my constituency and in many others, the register is compiled by two local authorities. In some constituencies, it may be the case that more than two local authorities are involved. The lack of consistency in approach raises further questions.

Deputy Catherine Murphy raised further doubts about the existing electoral register not only in regard to names inadvertently taken off it and names that remain on it when they should not be there, but in regard to the different categories of people named on it for local, European Parliament, Dáil and presidential elections and for referenda. Doubts exist because people are being wrongly categorised. We are sowing the seeds for further questions. We must address the fundamental problem before us. We must put in place technology that can properly identify citizens.

I do not agree with the approach of the Labour Party in regard to the census. I accept some of the argument the Minister made in that regard. I see a role for the Central Statistics Office outside its census activity. The ability to address this problem lies within the public service. However, I question whether there is the political will and the means to put in place the resources to tackle this problem. Many of us who have been involved in electoral politics for some time will have seen the abuse of electoral registers — for example, people registered as living in houses which were not occupied and family members being registered while no longer living in particular houses. In addition, there are questions about the value of the document each of us seeking election to this House and to elected bodies must use.

On these grounds, the Minister is being forced to introduce a measure many of us believe does not even scratch the surface of what must be done. He should be willing to take a more collective approach to ensure this problem is dealt with systematically.

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