Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk on this matter because it is surely very important that the political process or the electoral process is seen to act fairly and properly. We should all aspire to get young people to vote. We hear of many youngsters who when they turn 18 years of age do not turn up on the register for whatever reason.

4 o’clock

Something needs to be done. A bit of common sense must be applied here. I know that in schools they have the dates of birth of students, and they know their ages. At this stage, young people should be automatically put on the register when they reach 18 years of age. Instead, we find that so many of them are not on it when we go around one or two weeks before an election. It is absolutely ridiculous. Given all the information the authorities have, including PPS numbers and the whereabouts of people, as well as the census, in the era in which we live there should be some way for automatic registration. When people move, they are taken off the register in the area where they lived - whoever is good enough to do that - but they have no vote in the new area. Although they are taken off automatically, they are not put on automatically. We find ourselves with an awful lot of work to do. It is my belief that nobody should be taken off the register unless they are put on it somewhere else. I know the political parties have done this in the past. They take people off, but they do not look to put them on where they go. This is something on which we should all work together to ensure that every youngster and person who is in an area has an entitlement to vote, whoever they vote for. I hope they vote for me when my name is on the ballot paper, but they should surely vote for someone. We should all ensure that they have a vote.

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