Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the provision for local voters who become naturalised. Deputy Coppinger just raised the issue.

My constituency, or at least part of it, has a similar profile. Recently, I made inquiries with my local authority about this matter. Consequently, I tabled a parliamentary question this week because I wanted to find out the Department's position. Although the council had a process, it was very much its own and ad hoc. When I rang the council, I was told that if people appeared with their passports, photocopies would be taken at reception and passed to the office that updated the council's electoral register. Something that came to light was that people could fall through the cracks. For example, a Dublin council is updating people's records on the draft register, which is to be published next February. Were an election called in the meantime, though, where would those people stand? They would need to be included in the supplementary register. If we move from the local authorities' relatively ad hocprocedure to the more formal one that is outlined in the Bill, I am concerned that some people will fall through the cracks when the information collected is not followed through on. People might believe that they have registered, but because they did not do so under the new procedure, that might not actually be the case. The Department needs to be mindful of this issue and liaise with local authorities so as to ensure that whatever they have been doing joins up with the new procedure. It is an urgent issue, as there could have been an election in November according to newspaper reports, although it does not look like that now. It is important that this matter be advertised and made known publicly. For example, where does someone who has already provided a passport to a local authority stand?

The story should be clear and there should be an advertising campaign using, for example, media organs like the old Metro Herald, the Evening Heraldand local and national newspapers as well as online fora. In the lead up to the election, will the Department consider a campaign to educate voters? I mean this in a general sense. We have a sophisticated electorate but PR-STV, which I support as the best electoral system, is complex. Some voters whom I have encountered have lived in Ireland for all of their lives yet still ask me why I am not on local election ballot papers, what happens if they vote beyond No. 1 and so on. Some members of the general population do not fully understand how the system works.

There is a particular issue with people from other countries. I noticed something about a large number of ballot papers at a local election. It just so happened that they would have been for the Labour Party had they been valid, which is why I noticed them. It seems that people who wanted to vote for Labour where we had, for example, two candidates only put a tick beside each candidate's name. Their votes were spoiled. I do not know for sure, but I figure that some of those voters were newcomers to Ireland, were used to their own countries' systems and were not familiar with ours. I am sure that other political parties and independent candidates were also affected. As we have so many new voters, we need voter education.Television adverts informing people on voting methods are common in, for example, Pakistan. Going online and using YouTube or so on would be cheaper, but there should be as much voter education as possible and the Department should consider what other countries have done. Voter education campaigns should also take into accounts literacy issues stemming from language difficulties and poverty.

While I commend the work of local groups that have provided voter education, I would not leave it just to them. Unfortunately, there can be a political bias. As politicians, we will educate people as best we can, but it would be good to have an independent body. Ideally, an electoral commission would organise this work. In the interim, though, the Department should consider doing it. If money is an issue, there are many ways to educate voters cheaply, for example, via local and social media, YouTube and so on. The communities in question should be targeted. People from different countries have varying levels of understanding where our voting system is concerned. Those who have been in Ireland for longer have grown used to our system.

This is an important issue and I hope that the Minister of State, the Department and the official who is present with the Minister of State today and is experienced in this regard, having been the national Returning Officer at elections, take my comments on board.

See this speech in context