Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I, too, congratulate Fine Gael and, in particular, Deputy O'Dowd for giving us the opportunity to debate this issue. It is appropriate we discuss it in the context of the run-up to a general election and that we have the opportunity to engage in debate about the most suitable time to hold such an election because we have a lamentably low turn-out at elections. I have no reason to doubt what I just read on the Rock the Vote website which encourages young people to vote. It stated that Ireland has had the lowest average rate of turn-out for general elections in Europe over the past 30 years. Therefore, it is appropriate that we engage in this debate and I hope that by doing so, we will perhaps encourage more citizens to cast their vote.

Democracy is a very precious thing. People of the generation of those of us in the House this evening would not dream of not voting but a sizable section of the young population do not consider voting relevant to their lives. Perhaps they do not realise the significance and importance of having a vote. We really need to engage citizens much more in the whole question of exercising their franchise and having a say in what goes on in our democracy.

I congratulate my colleague, Deputy Gilmore, on his contribution to the issues surrounding voting, the electoral register and so on. He very much drove the work to ensure the electoral register was thoroughly reviewed. I hope it is now in a more accurate state than it was in the past. Deputy Gilmore also drove the agenda in regard to the electronic voting debacle to ensure we did not have a system of counting votes about which the public did not feel confident. We spent a great deal of money on the system but we are all very grateful we will not use the machines in the forthcoming general election despite the fact that more than €50 million was wasted on them and a considerable amount of money has been spent on their storage. Deputy Gilmore has been a very incisive voice in pointing out the difficulties in that area.

I live in a city and constituency with a very large number of students. The University of Limerick, the Limerick Institute of Technology, the Limerick School of Art and Design and Mary Immaculate College are located in Limerick city. I meet many students when I knock on doors and I imagine my constituency probably has the highest percentage of students of any constituency. In Dublin and Cork students are scattered around a number of constituencies. When I go canvassing I meet people who tell me they are from Mayo, Sligo, Mullingar or elsewhere and that they hope to go home to vote. Naturally enough, they feel they belong to the place from which they come. Inevitably, students only live in the place in which their college happens to be on a transitory basis. While some may stay on, the vast majority see their home as the place in which their families live and to which they return during holidays and frequently at weekends.

We will disenfranchise a large number of students if, as the Taoiseach has indicated, polling takes place on a Thursday, although we do not really know. I listened to the Minister give statistics on whether more people come out to vote on a Thursday or a Friday and what happened in various European Parliament, local and general elections. However, I have not heard any assessment of what is the appropriate way to engage most of our citizens and get them to come out to vote. An independent electoral commission, as was suggested, would at least engage the public. After ten years in office, we have not seen any attempt by Government to encourage citizens to think about the value and importance of voting and of democracy.

With the Taoiseach saying polling will take place on a Thursday rather than a Friday, I suspect it may well be because it might be of more use to the Government if it is not held on a Friday. Is the Government a bit scared of students in places such as Limerick and does it hope they will not go home to vote? Students are disappointed about several issues, particularly the fact that failure to reform the grant system is now a reality. For several years, the Minister for Education and Science told us the student support Bill would be published, debated and enacted before the forthcoming academic year. However, that has not happened, nor will it. The grant system will be left as is, costing, according to the Union of Students in Ireland, €1 billion. It is administered by 66 different authorities, which very often has resulted in students not getting their grants for months after they were supposed to get them.

Students are not very happy with the Government because there has been a failure to deliver on one of the key issues, namely, reform of the grant system. The Government did not promise much to students but that was one clear promise that has not been fulfilled. Students are not happy with the Government and there might be something behind this agenda whereby large numbers of students will not be in a position to vote, which is a shame.

I mentioned the Rock the Vote campaign. I commend those behind that campaign, although I do not know who they are. They state they are not driven by party politics and from looking at the website they do not appear to be. They have organised events around the country and according to their website, they got 70,000 hits on their Bebo page which is important because it is read by young people. They are making a strong argument and are making an effort to get young people to come out to vote. That contrasts sharply with the Government which does not appear to make any effort to encourage young people to come out to vote.

At the other end of the scale, there is the Older and Bolder campaign, an initiative of organisations of our senior citizens which are also attempting to encourage their members to come out to vote. They are conducting a very strong postcard campaign at present in regard to their issues and encouraging their cohort of citizens to come out to vote.

Between the Rock the Vote campaign, the efforts of other bodies such as the Union of Students in Ireland and the National Youth Council and at the other end of the scale, the Older and Bolder campaign, there is an awareness that it is important to encourage people who do not vote to do so. If the pattern of turn-out is as it has been for years, figures show that probably more than 1 million registered voters will not cast their vote in the forthcoming general election. That is very serious for our democracy.

I would like to think the Government intends to take this issue of the franchise seriously but from what I heard from the Minister, I do not believe it has any intention of doing so. All the Minister did was continue to engage in scoring points against the Opposition rather than present a coherent position as the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Minister in charge of this issue.

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