Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will address some of the issues in reverse. The timing for Bills is no longer a Government decision. It is for the Business Committee, which decided that the House would not sit on Friday. That is the reason for being here so late tonight and tomorrow tonight. It is not my choice. I would facilitate any time for the Deputies, but that is Dáil reform. It is working well for some and not for others, but that is the nature of the game.

Deputy Coppinger asked why people were not encouraged to register at their citizenship ceremonies. I did not know it, but I have been informed by the departmental officials that they are encouraged. They are given the leaflet and told what is involved in the process. They are not made to sign up there and then, but they are encouraged to do it, which is positive.

In general, most of the issues that Deputy Coppinger has raised about this Bill rather than about the citizens' assembly, which we debated a few minutes ago, concern who should be on the register. I agree that we have a great deal of work to do if we are to get the register right, which is in everyone's interests. It should be fixed once and for all. The system for registering should be automatic. I hope that we can commit to sorting this out together, as the register is not reflective of everyone who wants to vote. People are only discovering that they are not registered when they go to vote. It is unfair to say that there is a particular age group or social background involved. I meet people regularly everywhere I go and I get the same phone calls as Deputy Coppinger does from people who ring for help after discovering that they are not on the register. That happens to us all on a daily basis.

See this speech in context