Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

It is in the interest of democracy, regardless of what side we serve, to get people active and involved. Whatever way they vote, we get satisfaction from seeing a higher turnout, particularly in national elections. It is part of good citizenship and community activity and is one of the recommendations of the report. The report was the result of significant work, including a roadshow that travelled the country talking to community and residents' groups, teaching groups, boards of management and scouting groups etc. A small part of the resulting recommendations was to increase the number of people active in communities by 60,000 per year. The report has a loose definition of "active in community". I might argue that it is not "active" because in the report "active" means attending meetings or pressure groups. However, I accept its definition. The aim is to increase the number of adults engaged in at least one form of civic activity by 60,000 each year.

The report sets a target that by the end of the decade there should be at least a 60% turnout of 18 to 24 year olds. The big issue in that regard is registration. The challenge for the future is to ensure we improve our electoral registers throughout the country. We know it is more difficult to achieve accuracy in commercial, private "flatland" and in apartment blocks. Not to mind the fact persons compiling the register for these areas must be good officials, politicians must be good canvassers to get into apartment land. That is a challenge I am glad to say was not there when I was younger.

It is also a challenge to increase the level of participation in general elections from 75.5% to 80%. We must increase the proportion of adults who say they agree with the statement that they can influence decisions affecting their local areas. The report suggests ways to do that. We can do our bit in the House, which I think we do. Despite what people say about reform, the House contributes by what it does. I agree with the Deputy with regard to a television channel for the House and for committees, where much of the work is done. We are here for a few hours, but much other good work takes place during the rest of the day, including good debates, in the committees of the House, including days neither House sits. This is part of the debate.

On education and debate in civic society, people, especially young people, are increasingly interested in the Third World and climate change and we must link education with those issues. Deputy Ferris mentioned the rotation of questions earlier. If we can engage on some issues, we can improve that. However, that should not take away from all the good work. Improvements can always be made.

One of the most significant challenges, not to say the others are not important, is something on which the previous Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Dick Roche, worked, namely, the updating of the registers. He made a good effort and it worked to a great extent. I know how hard he had to work to achieve that and the difficulties and obstacles that were raised to implementing a system that would provide greater register accuracy. This, in my view, is the most important area to deal with in order to increase participation. Many of the other things are happening, but a system to provide register accuracy, amendment of registers and quick action and the ability to check them in detail is the greatest challenge.

We saw the difficulties involved with our most recent census, which in some areas was not at as high a level as it used to be. There were all sorts of reasons for this and I am sure efforts will be made to change them before the next census. It is more difficult nowadays. I have spoken to the people involved in producing the census results and have been told this is something that is accepted in large cities around the world. However, there are things we can do to improve that.

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