Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I think every party in this House would welcome the establishment of an electoral commission as soon as possible. The report references the online dangers that may well exist in regard to our electoral system.

I also want to raise with the Taoiseach the electoral register which was recently published and made available to public representatives. This year the Dublin local authorities took the unilateral action of reordering the details of electors in the hard copy of the electoral register, the one which is provided and available to public representatives and to candidates.

The new design is unusable because street numbers are randomised in relation to odd and even numbers. As such, it is impossible for a new candidate in particular to identify where specific houses are and then identify a name. I questioned the Minister on this and was told by way of reply to a parliamentary question that the electronic soft copy provided to Deputies in Excel would suffice and that local authorities had discharged their duty to provide the register in a usable format. I do not know how many people use the electoral register, but in its current format, it is not usable. It is a significant constraint in a democracy for candidates and public representatives who have a legitimate need to access the electoral register. I ask the Taoiseach to tell the House how he intends to proceed on this matter.

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