Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I commend Deputy Gay Mitchell on a thoughtful and incisive speech — it was one of the better speeches in this debate. He made the strong point that it is time for us to consider the creation of a kinder Ireland. In complete contradiction to the last speaker, he made the point about it being important in all political debate and discourse that we listen to each other. I commend him on that. He also made the point that Ireland should look forward. I agree. The time has come for Ireland to look forward, not backwards. One of the astonishing points to note is that most of the speeches looked backwards when they could have looked forward and discussed matters we could and should be changing.

Deputy Gay Mitchell was also right in another way. Ireland has changed dramatically. When I first entered the House 20 years ago, it was at a time when a Fine Gael-Labour coalition was just being turned out of office. At that time, the number of people in work was half what it is now, we had a huge tax burden, the national debt had doubled in three years and every farthing collected in tax simply went to pay for the debt. The other part of that coalition Government's legacy is an interesting one. Some 250,000 people were out of work — unemployment was at 16% — and 71,000 people were working in the building and construction industry compared to 250,000 today. Deputy Gay Mitchell is correct that we have made progress. We will continue to do so.

I wish to consider the Bill, although many of the contributions were not on the Bill. Deputy McCormack was characteristically negative and, as usual, he made points of very dubious relevance. There have been many elections since 1992. I do not recall a single Deputy from that side of the House having the prescience he had today — 20/20 vision is always a good thing. The reality is that the Bill arises not because of a deficiency but because the Supreme Court made a decision. We live in a country where, thank God, we have a Supreme Court and a Constitution and, from time to time, legislation is tested.

With regard to the register, Fine Gael and the Labour Party simply did not listen. Deputies McCormack and Gilmore made the point about the register being linked to PPS numbers. Deputy Gilmore talked about slow learners. He should also talk about slow listeners. As I have stated since time immemorial, there are in excess of 5 million PPS numbers. Anybody who thinks one can create a viable voting register from 5.6 million PPS numbers is not in touch with reality. Another point that shows the lack of reality in this debate is that there are children who have PPS numbers despite not being 18 years or older. Non-nationals who have been in the country and gone home for a period have PPS numbers but are not entitled to vote in all elections. Moreover, PPS numbers are not always related to one's voting location or the place where one is entitled to vote. It is idiotic for Members to come to the House and repeat the same views over and over.

Deputy Gilmore made a specific point with regard to the register of electors in Dún Laoghaire. It is worth reminding ourselves that the problems in Dún Laoghaire arose because, arrogantly, the chairman and council of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council refused to be bound by the advice that every other council in the country took. It took a long time for them to admit they got it wrong, but wrong they got it. I recall that particular gentleman arrogantly stating: "We have 99% accuracy in Dún Laoghaire." Anybody who thinks there is 99% accuracy in any voting register is not in touch with the real world.

Deputy Gilmore and a number of other Deputies made reference to spend, which brings the same gentleman in Dún Laoghaire to mind. He spent an astronomical amount of money being elected to a local council on the last occasion and now seems to be trying to spend his way into the Dáil, although that is a debate for a different day.

A point raised by several Deputies, particularly Fine Gael Deputies, was the issue of electronic voting. When they have nothing else to say, they go back to that. I do not want to cause any Fine Gael Deputy discomfiture, but I remind them that their former leader, Mr. John Bruton, introduced what I thought was a superb leaflet on the issue of electronic voting. He extolled the virtues of the electronic system, and said it was as easy as 1, 2, 3. This was on the website of Fine Gael until recently, but when I drew attention to it last year, it disappeared.

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