Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I support both amendments as they will deal with the issue of access to proper data for legitimate reasons and ensure that constituents all have their place on the register of electors. I also support the notion mentioned by the Minister of a rolling register. It would be particularly useful because society has changed so much from the times when people were in the one location for most of their lives. Clearly those days are gone and the prospect of a rolling register has a much greater appeal.

Perhaps while we work out how such a register can be established, we could deal with the present situation through the supplementary register, which at present is quite arbitrary. Names are submitted that are then held in private by the registrar. The registrar considers the applicants and neither they nor their public representatives have any input into the decision made by the registrar. By the time a person finds out if he or she is on the supplementary register, it is too late to do anything about it. It is unlikely that someone will seek a judicial review for the sake of his name appearing on the register of electors and that makes it arbitrary.

Until the establishment of a rolling register, we could deal with this crisis by making the arbitrary position of the supplementary register more accountable. The registrar could issue a draft supplementary register before the election. Issues may arise because of security concerns about those who want to go on to the supplementary register but anyone on that register could be vetted going into the polling booth. At the moment it is proposed that one person in four will be checked but 100% of those on the supplementary register could be checked for identification to ensure everything is in order.

Consideration should be given to this because the supplementary register is a safety net that could deal substantially with the genuine concerns raised by people on all sides of the House.

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