Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

There may well be some merit in the Deputy's point but it would require primary legislation. The Deputy will recall the debate we had in this House on that subject. One of the extraordinary things we discovered was that when we tried to make a modest change to allow for an extension of dates, which was something everyone in the House supported, we had to do so by legislation. We discovered that the electoral registration process is rigidly protected in primary law, and rightly so. We got the balance about right in terms of the supplementary register. Some protections must be in place, otherwise it would be wide open to abuse. I agree, however, that after the election we should all sit down in this House, and hopefully I will be in this seat at that time——

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