Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

For too many years the electoral register has been based on an outdated method of being compiled while also falling short in inclusivity for sectors of society that are traditionally under-represented in electoral matters.

This Bill seeks to address some of those concerns, which is welcome, but there are areas in which it could be improved further. The modernisation of the register is welcome. We are all aware of the issue of the names of deceased persons being on the register, while at the same time, names that have been added in the recent past seem to fall off for some reason. I hope that the establishment of the new commission, along with the introduction of rolling registration, the use of PPS numbers as part of the data verification process and the pre-registration of 16 and 17-year-olds will assist in resolving that matter, which has been problematic for many voters in the past. I hope, in promoting this legislation, to increase voter participation. This legislation and the commission will attend to that.

One of the key failures of this Bill is to ignore the possibility that it could lower the voting age to 16 for local and European elections, as Sinn Féin proposed. The time will come where the process has to catch up with the advances in modern Ireland. News is now available at a touch on a screen, meaning the ability of younger people to become politically involved is much better. The current global situation is something about which there is much more awareness. Our role at European level has consequences for current and future generations. I believe this is also the case when we look at measures being taken to address climate change, which future generations will inherit, and should therefore be able to make a contribution to.

On the same theme as voter participation, I refer to those who I said are under-represented in electoral matters, such as members of the Traveller and Roma communities, as well as migrants. This Bill falls short in addressing this. There was a recommendation from the committee following pre-legislative scrutiny that the electoral commission would have to engage with representatives from under-represented communities or establish a sub-committee which would include those representatives.

I believe the postal voting arrangements could have been expanded further, as is the case in many other European countries. If we are talking about increasing voter participation, then we need to have realistic and practical measures to give rise to this.

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