Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Electoral Commission, in the new way it has been set up, is a huge advancement and improvement and we all recognise that. One issue in which we all have a great interest relates to the electoral register, who is on it and how that system has worked. It has always struck me down the years that when someone turns 18 years of age, the Department of Social Protection is able to write to the parents to tell them he or she is being taken off the children's allowance, but it is not able to put the young person on the electoral register. Now that it is linked to the PPS number system, is it possible that when a person turns 18, they could automatically be put onto the electoral register rather than have to register themselves? Perhaps the Minister of State will address that. Such a change would solve much of the problem because, clearly, that information is already there and should be used.

That the current system uses PPS numbers means a lot of duplications will be removed, given many people at different times move house, parish or county and find they are still on the register where they were ten years ago as well as where they are now. I know there is work to be done to get everybody's PPS number in place, but I think it will assist in that regard. Likewise, the issue whereby when someone passes away, they often remain on the register, sometimes for a long time, also needs to be dealt with.

Given the type of employment that exists nowadays, people often work away from home or abroad for periods. If they are not in the country on the day of the election, however, they have no vote. That issue needs to be looked at and I would encourage the Electoral Commission to do so. In other jurisdictions, there are proxy votes, whereby somebody can vote on your behalf providing they have the correct documentation and so on. The postal vote system in this State is quite complex and it can be difficult for people to navigate when they need to do so. Those are areas that should be looked at. We should do everything possible to ensure that the electoral register is accurate and that people who are on it will have every opportunity to exercise their right to vote. That is the broad principle that needs to be examined. I would recommend that something be done in that regard, especially in that area of postal and proxy votes.

I was elected in a constituency comprising Sligo, Leitrim, south Donegal and north Roscommon, which is now going to be changed to just Sligo, Leitrim and south Donegal, with the north Roscommon part going back into the Roscommon-Galway constituency. The entire county of Roscommon will now be in one constituency, whereas it used to be split between two constituencies. At one time, County Leitrim was almost split in half, with north Leitrim with Sligo and south Leitrim with Roscommon. There have been a whole lot of variations like that. I think the tolerance that is currently allowed is plus or minus 5%, but that could be examined to see whether it could be extended somewhat, which would help to keep county boundaries more intact. It is difficult. I think in particular of people who live in south Donegal but vote in the Sligo-Leitrim constituency, which includes Ballyshannon, Bundoran, Ballintra and Rossnowlagh. A small area - a little pocket in south Donegal - is in a different constituency from the rest of County Donegal. Local councillors are elected in that area, yet they are in a different Dáil constituency. That is a problem and we need to recognise it. I do not suggest we can get it perfect all the time. In urban areas, there will, of course, be divides, shifts and movements because of the density of the population. In rural counties and constituencies, however, if the tolerance were re-examined, that could open an opportunity to have something more uniform in place.

I agree with Deputy Howlin that six-seat constituencies are something we should definitely look at. Fewer three-seat constituencies would be much better, if just for democracy. It would also encourage us all to be more co-operative, given that we would be looking for second- and third-preference votes from our colleagues. In fairness, while people in this Chamber, in local authorities and everywhere else disagree on issues, we can find common ground. The more common ground we can find on issues, the more we can have a collaborative democracy that will work well and be more representative of the people, and six-seat constituencies would reflect that better. Most of our local authority electoral areas are six seats or more, and that works very well. It is something that should certainly be examined and looked at.

The issue of the media, the far right and electoral politics going down a certain route has been raised for some time. One reason we in Ireland have not seen as much of that extremism happening relates to our proportional representation electoral system, which is about more choice and the vote transferring along. An awful lot of people, as we see when there is an election and we look at the ballot papers coming out of the box, do not know how to vote. They vote number one and stop, or perhaps they vote one, two and three and stop. They do not understand that their vote can continue down through the 20 people on the ballot paper if they wish, and that it can contribute all the way along. In some elections that have been tight, we have seen a number ten or a number 12 being as good as a number one. It is important that there be a level of education among the public about how to vote properly.

We all talk about social media in a negative way and, certainly, there are an awful lot of problems with it, but it also has the opportunity to bring about a lot of positive things. We should use social media more to roll out education programmes. It is not just about adverts on RTÉ encouraging people to register to vote. Much of that can be done through social media outlets, such as X, or Twitter or whatever it is called at the moment, and Facebook. More and more of our young people use these outlets and they are the targets we need to reach. We need to use that more, as well as YouTube and all those platforms, to teach people how to vote and so on, and the Electoral Commission should look at that. The more that people understand how our electoral system works, the more they will engage in it and the more positive attitude they will have towards it and, therefore, the more engaged they will be in the political system as a whole.

The work done has been positive and is a very good start, but it has a distance to go. I encourage the Minister of State to take on board the points I raised about trying to bring it that distance.

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