Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this important Bill. There is no doubt that this Bill is long awaited. Establishing an electoral commission has been on the policy agenda since 2007. I support its establishment and I know there has been broad support for its establishment. However, despite this, legislation must not be rushed through the House and we must allow for thorough and adequate scrutiny of this Bill. I recognise the urgency of addressing the issues that are addressed in this Bill but we have to make sure we get this right.

We all know that the electoral register is incomplete and completely inaccurate. There is no doubt that there are serious issues with duplication. It has been established that the electoral register is inflated and this needs to be addressed. The amount of duplication on the electoral register at the moment is incredible, so much so that the number of names on the register actually exceeds the population eligible to vote due to duplication as well as due to double counting and counting those who are no longer at their previous addresses. Much of that is a result of the abolition of revenue collectors from local authorities because in the past, those collectors prepared the register and knew everybody in the area. They knew who people were and knew their families. They did the business. They have not been available for the past eight or nine years because their jobs have been done away with and the register has suffered as a result. I know there have been some attempts to recover what has been lost in that regard but it is a difficult situation and needs to be addressed. The role of the councils in preparing the register needs to be maintained and the councils need to be supported to ensure the right staff are available to make it happen.

The duplication is not only a serious problem in itself but it also contributes to inaccurate turnout reporting with turnout being under-reported due to the inflated register. If the electorate does not reflect the general population, there is a risk that politicians will pay greater attention to the policy needs of those who have voted rather than those who have abstained. That is an issue that is plain to be seen.

Other problems that have been identified include a complex registration process, poor maintenance of the register and voters being turned away from polling stations due to not being on the register. The establishment of an electoral commission to address these issues would be very welcome in order to ensure fair and accurate elections.

There is also a major problem in the fact that there has been no comprehensive research conducted into the extent of the problem at a national level. I hope the new electoral commission will have a research role in properly looking into the extent of the issues with the electoral register.

There is also an issue around conduct at elections. Perhaps there is a role for the commission in investigating conduct. The report stated there have been very few prosecutions in Ireland for electoral fraud. That is true because it is very difficult to gather evidence. It is not that fraud does not exist, it is just difficult to get the evidence to pursue a prosecution. I could outline ten or 15 different examples off the top of my head. I know of one electoral booth where five minutes after a vote had opened, 15 or 20 people had voted. No one had gone into the booth. Those votes were cast on behalf of people who were not available to vote on the day. The local people knew that, marked their papers and voted on their behalf. I know of a litany of other issues relating to postal votes and so forth. There are issues with what happens in that regard. The problem is the difficulty in pursuing accusations of voter fraud. That needs to be addressed because overall faith in the electoral system must be supported and strengthened.

I sometimes wonder whether the things parties do around postal votes and other things in the run-up to elections are necessary. A lot of is intended to make party operatives feel important and that something is happening, whether it makes a difference to an election or not. At local election level, where ten or 12 votes can have an impact, it could make a difference. When I was first elected in 1999, 14 more votes would have re-elected a Fianna Fáil candidate, meaning I would not have been elected.

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