Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to share time with Deputies Fleming, Fiona O'Malley, Andrews and Mulcahy.

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to make a brief contribution. I compliment Deputy Gilmore on his initiative regarding the Bill. I know he does not like me to acknowledge that we have known each other for a long time. We were colleagues on the old Dublin County Council and I have always been impressed by his work.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Minister does not support the Bill.

Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Gilmore did us a service by initiating this discussion.

I said to the Minister, Deputy Roche, last night that none of us, particularly Deputies on the Government benches, should claim there is no problem. In fairness to the Minister and Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, they outlined the action being taken to deal with the issues that arise.

I checked with my office this morning and noted that, in spite of my local authority doing its best, families are still asking why mail is still being posted to their parents who are dead and why the register is not amended. It worries us all that, 400 days before the next general election, the registers, not only those in the Dublin region but those throughout the country clearly present a challenge.

I was very interested in what the Chief Whip, Deputy Kitt, said last night on his responsibilities in respect of the Central Statistics Office. He stated:

I have opened discussions with the CSO about the possibility of census enumerators helping to carry out the vital role of ensuring that the register is maintained and updated on a consistent and continual basis. The personnel in question are well placed to provide a service to the voter and potential voter in this regard. I do not ignore or undervalue the vital role played by the local authorities in this area. I do not intend to rule them out of the process [at all].

There are problems with the register. Colleagues have referred to various problems regarding accommodation units, which problems I have articulated on other occasions. Those who know I represent Dublin South-West with my Tallaght-based colleague, Deputy Crowe, will know I have often commented on recent developments regarding apartment complexes, most of which are locked to the public. Issues arise in this regard, in addition to certain security considerations which must be respected. However, while I will not cry about political activists not being able to gain access to apartments, I draw attention to the serious problem this poses for council officials and those who want to correct the register. Local authorities — I will not spare South Dublin County Council in this regard — have a clear responsibility to ensure adequate communication and to remind people of their responsibility to ensure they are included on the register. When I was entitled to vote for the first time I was very enthusiastic about being included on it and ensuring I had my vote. I hope I was no different from anybody else in this regard.

Last night Deputies referred to the possibility of using different systems. I went to the bother of determining that there are fundamental differences between how the system operates here and in Northern Ireland. I am told the register in Northern Ireland is not the responsibility of individual local authorities, but of a dedicated organisation, the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland, which has a chief electoral officer in headquarters based in Belfast and nine area electoral offices located strategically across Northern Ireland. I am told the organisation employs approximately 40 permanent staff and also uses a much larger number of temporary staff during the annual canvass for electoral registration and during elections. The administration costs are funded by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland through the Northern Ireland Office. Each person eligible to register is obliged by law to do so. The agency then prepares and publishes the register annually and makes changes to the register monthly outside the period of the annual canvass. This process is known as a rolling register.

We all accept there are difficulties with the register and that we all must take responsibility to ensure the register is right. Other colleagues have listed all sorts of problems and possible abuses that may have taken place over the years. I was glad to hear the Minister express an open view on these issues last night. We should be open to change. I suspect the Minister is correct in saying that change would be particularly difficult with only a year to the next general election.

I am sure that my county is no worse than elsewhere. However, any cursory look at the register shows difficulties. People are registered who should not be registered. Some people who have gone to their rest remain registered. People who should be registered are not registered. In my constituency, as no doubt throughout the country, new housing developments take place and people move in and back out again just as quickly. It seems to take forever to sort out the register. It is important that we are having this debate. The Minister has responsibility to listen to what has been said and should take action in respect of issues that can be addressed.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. Like Deputy O'Connor, I thank Deputy Gilmore for introducing the Bill. I agree with the principle but disagree with the commissioner aspect. As I was a first-time candidate when elected in 1997, I can be far more direct than Deputy O'Connor was. The registers are a disgrace and an outrage. They are inaccurate and would not be tolerated by any organisation that was serious about what goes on. I have no objection to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, which has a role in overseeing elections, and perhaps the local authorities overseeing election procedures on polling day. I am quite convinced that the local authorities should have no role in gathering the names on the electoral register. Local authorities have had the job and failed miserably. They have no interest in the task whatever.

Five weeks ago officials from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts. I asked for their view on the inaccuracies on the electoral register, estimated at somewhere from 300,000 to 600,000, and what they were doing about it. As quick as lightning, the official produced a report from under the desk and he said that a report done 30 years ago estimated that the register had approximately 200,000 errors. His justification was that this is a long-standing traditional problem in Ireland. That is proof positive that the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and its local agents, the local authorities, are fully aware of the issue but have no interest or inclination to do anything about it. They should not be allowed near the task ever again.

Since I was first elected I have urged every Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to give the job of collecting the information to an organisation like An Post. Postal delivery people call to most houses every day and know who are in those houses. I do not mind if the database is retained through the local government function, which has a role in administering elections through the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. However, local authorities should have nothing to do with collecting the information.

Over the years I have come across several incidences where in particular district electoral divisions a person was given the job of checking the electoral register, which resulted in phenomenal changes. This might happen in one DED in a constituency every two years. When somebody goes to the effort, the tremendous results can be seen. I do not believe the local authorities should be doing this work. It would be a retrograde step for the Dáil to ask the local authorities to redouble their efforts, make new proposals or provide extra funding. As they have had all the chances in the world and have failed, this responsibility should be taken from them.

I would like to see the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment and Local Government work on this matter on an all-party basis. Details of the running of elections affect the basic elements of democracy and it should not be done on a unilateral basis by a Government or Private Members' Bill. It must come through all-party consensus. Without consensus, we would have the same difficulties we had with electronic voting and it would not be viable. Even if it had the support of the majority in the House, I would not be happy pushing through the Labour Party's preferred solution. It must be done by consensus.

Individuals' PPS numbers should be used. It can be confusing that when people move from Dublin to Laois and want to get on the register, they need to supply the name and number of the register on which they were in Dublin. That task can become so difficult that they give up. When transferring from one constituency to another, these complications create considerable difficulties. They do not represent a new entry in the register but a change of constituency. If the PPS number were used, this could be supplied to the local authority or whatever body might do this in future and it could take the voter off the register in the previous constituency.

Many of the mistakes relate to people moving address. We all know of people on the register in several locations having moved house three or four times. However, bad that might be, it is much worse for people arriving in new estates who may have been removed from the register at their previous address and as they are not on the register in their new area, they find themselves without a vote.

When officials from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts, they made a lame excuse on how difficult it is to have the register accurate by citing that within a couple of weeks of the last general election — it might have been the local and European elections — up to 60,000 new people were entered on the register. I suggest that they were the most accurate additions to the register because those wanting to register at that stage must have a form signed at the Garda station. Quite a cumbersome process is involved in getting on the register and they were probably the only ones fully verified — perhaps not by the local authority but by the Garda.

I welcome the debate. I do not agree with the concept of a commission. Without having political influence, I would like to see the people involved having a political interest in ensuring the job is done properly. A commissioner might not have the same kind of drive or determination. Ultimately it should be under the control of the House, because we are the democratically elected Parliament, rather than an individual commissioner.

I have read the various articles that Deputy Gilmore has written in the newspapers over several months and I agree with all of them. It is a shambles and we should be ashamed of it. It is not just the fault of Fianna Fáil. The report produced by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government was 30 years old and it knew of the problem since then. It does not care and is not interested. People with an interest in elections and the democratic process should carry out this function. It is only a question of whether we should use the census enumerators and their network as mentioned last night — I had not thought about that before — or an organisation like An Post to do the groundwork. The subsequent processing and maintaining of the database would be another matter and I do not have a hang-up as to who might do that once it is verifiable and accurate.

I support the principle of the debate but not the commissioner.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Will the Deputy vote for the Bill?

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I support the principle but not the idea of a commissioner. I would prefer to see it controlled through this House rather than by an independent commissioner. I believe Deputy Gilmore is right. That we should not be tampering with the electoral system by putting one side of the House in opposition to the other is exactly the point I was making.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy can vote for the Bill.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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There should be an all-party agreement. I would like the Joint Committee on Environment and Local Government, or a similar body, to come up with an all-party agreement. I think such an move would receive the support of both sides of the House. That is how I would like us to proceed.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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All right. Enough said.

Fiona O'Malley (Dún Laoghaire, Progressive Democrats)
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The most important duty of a citizen to his or her country is to participate in the determination of how and by whom the State is governed. Wars have been fought about the right to vote. It is an enormous regret to me that we take this fundamental right for granted nowadays. It is equally disturbing that we seem to have such a cavalier attitude to the process of preparing for elections. We have been aware of the alarming level of inaccuracies in the electoral register since June 2005, when The Sunday Tribune started to investigate the state of the register. While opinion may differ about the level of inaccuracy, it is more or less agreed that there are at least 400,000 invalid registrations, which represents a huge potential for electoral fraud. I agree with Deputy Fleming that it is nothing short of a disgrace that the register is in such bad order. It is imperative that the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government should act quickly to ensure confidence in this country's electoral system is not further eroded.

By presenting this Bill to the House, Deputy Gilmore has highlighted a significant threat to our democracy. He is entitled to ask what the Government intends to do about that threat. It is disappointing that an initiative was not immediately put in place when this information became available last June, as there was still enough time before the next general election to address these obvious problems. I asked my party colleagues who sit at the Cabinet table to press upon the Government the need to act. I understand a sub-committee was formed as a result. I do not know exactly what was achieved by the sub-committee. I applaud Deputy Gilmore for his initiative, which demonstrates his obvious commitment to establishing an accurate register. I have some reservations about the Bill that has been presented to the House, however. Given that the Bill was first published on 20 October 2005, it is a pity the Labour Party chose not to use its Private Members' time to introduce it before now. It can hardly be blamed for inaction. As such a short period of time remains before the next general election, there is simply not enough time to put in place a new way of compiling the electoral register. The law states that the draft register must be published and prepared by 1 November next. There is not enough time to pass this Bill, establish the office of an electoral register commissioner and prepare a register by November. I share Deputy Gilmore's concern about the state of the register. We need a workable solution that can be put in place before the next election. We need short-term and long-term solutions, but I am not convinced this Bill provides for either.

I would like to dwell on the aspects of the Bill with which I agree. I am in favour of using the personal public service number system in the compilation of the electoral register. That position was unanimously endorsed by the Progressive Democrats Party at its conference last weekend. The use of PPS numbers, which are unique identifiers, would cut out duplication in the system. When I checked this morning, I found that I am still on the register in two places in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area, even though I have been in communication with the local authority and have been living at my current address for the last three and a half years. That highlights the incompetence — if that is not too strong a word — of the local authority's efforts to compile an accurate register. The possibility of duplication is further compounded — it is doubled in effect — by the fact that information can be inputted to the register in Irish and English. As a PPS number is a unique identifier, just one individual can be identified by it. Therefore, the use of such numbers constitutes an obvious solution to the problem of duplication.

I concur with the Minister's comment last night that the indolence of the local authorities characterises their attitude to the compilation of the electoral register. Local authorities are not given any incentive to prioritise this work. They are indifferent to the inaccuracy of what they produce. That there is no uniformity in what is produced is also worrying. Each local authority operates in isolation, without the ability to cross-reference its lists with those of other local authority areas. The current outdated system of compiling the register belongs to an Ireland of the past, in which people knew each other. As that is no longer the case, it is time for the introduction of a new system.

It is time to take responsibility for the compilation of the register from local authorities. A single new system needs to be designed to manage the task. An independent electoral commission needs to be established to run elections. It would be more appropriate to devolve the task of compiling the register to such a body. I cannot support this Bill for that reason. I do not believe the establishment of the office of commissioner of the electoral register, separate from an electoral commission, would be wise. We need to arrive at a long-term solution by consensus without rushing the process. A stopgap measure, which is what this Bill is, would not be satisfactory as we would go down a cul-de-sac. Deputy Gilmore has indicated that the establishment of an independent electoral commission is the ultimate goal. In the short term, we need to deliver a workable solution for the next general election. I was glad to hear the Minister intends to ask census enumerators to gather this information in the field. It is the Minister's duty to spend money to correct the register. It is probably the single most important task to be undertaken by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in the rest of his time in office. He must take action that is stronger than the issuing of a directive. It does not please me to say that previous directives have been ignored. I appreciate that Deputy Gilmore is keen to solve this problem, but I do not think his Bill represents the solution.

Michael Mulcahy (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Gilmore and the Labour Party for presenting this Bill and opening a debate on the accuracy of the electoral register. It is welcome that the Labour Party has used its Private Members' time to that end. An argument can be made in favour of this Bill because it is possible that this process, like many other processes, needs to be centralised. It should not be forgotten that it is already centralised to a certain extent, however, because the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has an overall responsibility to ensure that each local authority compiles an accurate register. The members of each local authority are responsible for ensuring the authority is doing its job correctly.

I welcome this debate, which underlines that the system is an amateurish and inadequate shambles that allows for the possibility of personation. I am sure everyone in this House and most people involved in local authorities will agree. It has been brought to my attention that a number of voters in my local authority area are listed on the electoral register as living in certain flat complexes, but that information does not correspond with the housing rental records. How can one be on the register of electors if one is not living in the premises in which one is recorded as being resident? If this debate helps to make the entire system, which is antediluvian, more professional I would support that.

The Minister has outlined in recent days a series of measures which he intends to take to improve the situation. Much greater use should be made of technology in this regard. A proper computer system would immediately notice that a person in a local authority area is registered at two separate addresses. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government should monitor that computer system. I agree with the Minister that the establishment of a commission would not achieve much more than the creation of a new body. I am surprised the Labour Party has made such a suggestion because I know many people in that party, like many people in my party, have frequently argued for the decentralisation of powers and for making powers more local, as opposed to more centralised. I do not want to let local authorities off the hook with regard to their obligations. I do not want another semi-State body, non-governmental organisation, quango or whatever to have power and responsibility removed from this House. I want the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to be accountable to this House for the state of the register and I believe he is. When it comes to technology, electronic voting may have been useable. Despite it being used in two elections in 1997 without any problem, the same technology all of a sudden is totally unacceptable for this general election. Members of the Dáil must come into the 21st century and embrace modern technology and not be afraid of it. We must be consistent in bringing technology forward.

Citizens have an obligation to register. I do not accept the point made by some people that there is no publicity about this. There are always advertisements on television, on the radio stations and in the print media encouraging people to register for the draft and final registers. Citizens must be aware of their obligations. It is their duty to check that they are on the register and if not, to ensure they are registered. Most people I know want to be registered. They want to have a vote. Whether they cast their votes in an election is another matter. However, there is an obligation on the citizen to ensure that he or she is registered and in a position to vote at the next election.

The other area we need to emphasise is that of personation and identification. It is not compulsory to show identification when one goes to get a ballot paper. Only if challenged is one required to produce identification. It should be compulsory for every person to give some type of identification before he or she votes, a credit card bill, utility bill, passport or driver's licence, for instance. That would go a long way to cutting out personation.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I was canvassing recently in a housing estate with my electoral register in hand. I assure constituency colleagues in the House that it is not my normal practice to have the electoral register in hand. I just happened to be very diligent on this particular day and I noticed when I came to No. 5, that ten people were registered at that house. I rang the door bell in great excitement and was greatly disappointed to find that a mere three people in the house should legitimately have been on the register. The anecdotes have been plentiful in this debate in recent days, but it is a problem everywhere.

Deputy Mulcahy referred to personation. There used to be a correcting mechanism on the electoral register. At every single polling station at election time there used to be a queue of people volunteering to do personation work on behalf of each of the political parties. Unfortunately we just do not have the personnel anymore. Membership of the various political parties has declined over the years. There are other things to do and people join single issue movements.

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Or they join smaller parties.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy's party did not exist in those times. That was a correcting mechanism and people have gone through various other reasons this has happened. If there are 400,000 people too many, it shows that the real turn-out at elections is much higher than we realise. The turn-out was 63% at the last election. It is probably more than 70% if that fact is taken into account. However, this only would apply in the more developed areas like mine, I suppose, whereas in Deputy Catherine Murphy's area, it probably operates in the other direction, perhaps, with too few people being registered. There is also the interesting consequence that we probably have too many Deputies in certain areas. As we all know there are supposed to be 20,000——

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Especially over there. We will move over if the Government side moves out.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I am the only one here, so it is perhaps the other side that has the superfluous numbers. The Constitution provides that there should be 20,000 per Deputy. If there are 400,000 too many people on the register, then it means there are that many Deputies in excess. We need the Government Deputies to bolster the Taoiseach. The rest are oversubscribed, I would say.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Deputy Andrews represents one of the few constituencies where the population is falling.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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It would have an interesting knock-on effect. If we corrected the register it might have an impact in that sense. The Democracy Commission produced a report last year. I was involved in its preparation and the main conclusion it came to was that there was much confusion about the electoral register. The statistics showed that 41% of 18 and 19 year olds did not vote and half that cohort had procedural problems with the register. People did not have polling cards or they were away from home or were confused about what was going on. That is a significant number and the same scenario could be applied to people in general in the under-25 age group.

I had wanted to go through other matters here. My colleagues have rehearsed the problems in trying to set up an electoral registration commission in the next few months. This will not be practicable. I would like to see a wider electoral commission, as recommended by the Democracy Commission. I would like to see not only enumerators and An Post, but also students being invited to work over the summer in correcting the register and providing us with the type of accuracy that is required.

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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With the House's permission I would like to share time with Deputies Crowe, Catherine Murphy, Connolly, Cowley and Healy, should they appear. I am sure others will fill the space if necessary.

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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There appears to be a small but significant group of crocodiles on the far side of the House who are crying their eyes out about the condition of the electoral register. I would remind them that they have been office for the previous nine years and have had ample opportunity to address this issue, which has been discussed——

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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There has been rapid housing development in recent years. The accentuated problem that exists now was not as pronounced in 1997. I just make that point.

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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There has always been an undercurrent of problems with the register, particularly with the advent of computers some time in the 1960s. The technology certainly existed for some degree of cross-checking as between local authorities.

I was very impressed by Mr. Maurice Coughlan, principal officer in the franchise section of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, who said clearly at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Environment and Local Government in December that the use of PPS numbers would be of great advantage in managing and administering the electoral register. That was in December, and January, February, March and April have gone by with the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government having had little to say on the issue. I would remind him, however, that there is a desk in the Customs House, his name is on it and the buck should stop with him. It is entirely within his remit to come up with a new Bill to address this. It is not overly complicated. I imagine the average parliamentary draftsman could have the heads of a Bill drawn up in a couple of days. I certainly believe there is still time to bring it in by next November or some other date that is suitable.

Deputy's Gilmore's Bill is excellent. It makes perfect sense to use PPS numbers. We all agreed on that issue in December and nodding consensus, at least, was given to the need for an independent electoral commission. We need look no further than across the Border to see how it works. Up to the not too distant past we saw, across the Border, the problems that resulted from not having a clear and understandable system. Deputy Mulcahy really misunderstood the question. The reason we did not support electronic voting on this side of the House was that there was not a voter verifiable audit trail. That is the issue with electronic voting. I have no problem with using a computer to cross-check the PPS numbers. I still think the local authority can play a valid role in the compilation of the register. The trick is to send the files up to HQ and to make sure that somebody just runs the spreadsheet through a computer who can point out, for example, if five people have the same PPS number so that somebody can knock on their doors to find out what is going on. That would not be overly complicated and I think it can be done.

There is a clear need to establish the electoral register commission. The use of PPS numbers would eliminate the risk of inclusion of deceased persons and would allow local authorities to cross-check the data to make sure no person is registered more than once. This is probably the first time in my three years in the House that I have agreed with Deputy Mulcahy, and I agree that we should perhaps look at mandatory ID at polling stations, whether it be a bus pass, pension book or credit card statement, as he suggested. In this day and age it makes sense to keep a slightly tighter rein on who is turning up at polling stations. We use ID in every other aspect of our lives and it is no harm to use it in polling stations.

I remind the Government side of the House that we had a full discussion on this matter in the Joint Committee on Environment and Local Government last December and we were all agreed on the solution. The Minister, Deputy Roche, stated it is too late to bring about radical change in electoral registration in the lead-in to the next election. He has had responsibility for this matter for the past 18 months and he has done little or nothing to deal with the problem since his appointment. One of two things is going on. Either the Minister is completely and utterly inept in this area or there is a more ominous and darker reason for his inability to come to terms with reforming the electoral register. Although he does not need reminding, I remind him that his predecessor spent over €60 million on the fiasco that was electronic voting. A mere fraction of that would sort out the problems of reform of the electoral roll. With my party colleagues I will be voting for the Labour Party Bill this evening.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the opportunity to reaffirm Sinn Féin's support for reform of the electoral register and for the instigation of proactive voter registration drives to ensure all eligible voters are registered and to ensure accuracy of the electoral register. There has been a significant failure to ensure that the register is kept up to date and accurate. The absence of proactive registration drives and voter education initiatives has left many disenfranchised, particularly first-time voters, those who have moved into new housing developments and those living in the private rented sector. As elected representatives, we all regularly encounter significant numbers of people who are not registered and who in many cases are not fully aware of how to go about getting registered.

The question has been asked whether the process should be about making it easier or more difficult for people to use their franchise. We should be making it easier. The proposed changes to the supplementary register by which those seeking to be added to it would have to go to a Garda station and so on would not encourage people to go down that road but would discourage them. Neither would it encourage young people who feel dissatisfied with the system to add their names to the register. We have all come across cases where young people are not registered and that is a scandal. I have come across young people who were in tears because they wanted to use their vote for the first time but found they were not on the register.

During last night's debate the Minister attempted to downplay the problem of underfunding and did not appear to accept the extent to which lack of funds and-or personnel impedes the ability of local authorities to carry out their functions in regard to the electoral register. As the Minister stated last night, local authorities utilise a number of different approaches in compiling the register. There needs to be a standardised approach and local authority employees tasked with carrying out this work must be trained and upskilled.

There also must be increased emphasis on voter education. Voter education campaigns should place particular emphasis on communities with low levels of registration and low voter turnout at elections. It should not be left to groups like the Society of St. Vincent de Paul to try to provoke discussion and so on. There is a responsibility on political parties to engage with young people and people from disadvantaged areas to try to get them involved.

During last night's debate, Deputy Gilmore praised the rolling register in place in the North. Such praise demonstrates a naivety regarding the actual consequences for those in the Six Counties of the system introduced there. After the introduction of the new electoral regulations in Northern Ireland a number of years ago, which abolished household registration and introduced an annual registration requirement, much more than 200,000 people became disenfranchised. Those living in disadvantaged areas were particularly affected. After a long campaign waged by Sinn Féin and others, the British Government agreed to amend the legislation and our primary concern now is to ensure that the people who are on the current register are carried over on to the permanent register which is currently being legislated for and that adequate resources are provided for the electoral office and the electoral commission to do their jobs effectively.

Problems in terms of the accessibility of polling stations for those with disability or mobility problems persist. I am aware of a particular case in my constituency where elderly and infirm people had to be carried up steps so that they could vote as there was no ramp. I contacted the school which said it did not have the money to put a ramp in place. I also contacted the Sheriff's office but it did not have the money either. The reality is that at the next election some people will either have to crawl up steps or be carried up them. It is wrong that anybody should have to go through that to cast their vote. People are entitled to vote and it should be made easier for them, not more difficult.

I welcome the fact that this debate is taking place but we should seriously examine ways of making it easier for people to vote and encouraging people to vote. One way of doing that is by putting them on the register.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Catherine Murphy has two and a half minutes.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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I might take a little bit more time given that some of my colleagues are not present. The focus of newspaper headlines has been on the number of additional people on the electoral register. In Kildare and other rapidly developing areas I suggest that there are gaps all over the place in terms of the number of people who have not yet put their names on the electoral register. It is only at election time that one becomes acutely aware of just how many people are in that category. In the past, rate collectors had a role in knocking on everybody's door but that is no longer the case. Nobody slots into that position in local authorities to do that work. As a result we simply do not have good electoral registers because we rely on people to respond to material that is sent to them, which does not work in all cases.

If one went out to find additional voters next week one would find not only additional voters but new housing estates. It is very difficult to keep on top of these developments given the rate of building. There is a change in housing tenure and an increase in the rented accommodation sector. This results in a more transient population. This is the case right across the country. It is not just a question of getting the register right now, we must accept the changes in society and respond to them by putting different systems in place. It is not atypical for me to find gaps in the register in the town in which I live, in housing estates that are up to ten years old. The register can go from house No. 1 to houses Nos. 5, 6 and 7 and on to house No. 20. Such gaps are par for the course. It is only when it comes to election time that this is noticed. Younger voters are not captured.

I listened to Deputy Mulcahy refer to taking people off the electoral register. I have been in polling stations, as I am sure have other Members, where voters have been taken off the electoral register. When they turn up looking for their vote having been on a prior electoral register, they are very difficult people for the staff in a polling station to deal with. It is a dangerous way to go about things because decisions become very arbitrary about who is or is not on the register. My name is a very common one which would be replicated a number of times around the constituency and I would take great offence if somebody took my name off the electoral register. This is a wrong way to go about it.

We need to get it right at the beginning but it also should be reviewed in the future, as should the use of information technology which is very important.

Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)
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The introduction of this Bill to establish the office of electoral registration commissioner is timely in view of the recent reports of chaos relating to omissions and additions to the existing voters' list. Rumours in the media have indicated a level of 20% inaccuracy which represents approximately 800,000 more people registered than are eligible to vote. Such a number of votes would elect many TDs, considering many Members of this House have been elected on very small margins and one Member has been elected on a margin of one vote. This situation cannot be allowed pertain.

The Minister of State has referred to the work of some local authorities in compiling the register as less than satisfactory and this may be an understatement. There is no incentive for those local authorities to do the job any differently or any better than they are doing and neither are there any penalties. It works on a whim. The Northern Ireland electoral register was referred to which was subject to similar attention prior to a major clean up in recent years, which demonstrates that difficulties also existed north of the Border.

At the 2004 local and European elections, many electors found themselves deleted from the register when they went to vote and these were the interested voters who had turned up to vote. There was no accountability by any person or persons who deleted these names from the register. There are questions to be answered about the mode of operation but safeguards are not in place. Up to now the compilation of the register has been haphazard and patchy with little effort made to ensure the accuracy of lists prior to an election. But for the introduction of the supplement to the electoral register a few years' ago, many persons would be forced to wait several years before being able to exercise their vote in an election.

The current electoral register chaos involving errors and large-scale non-registration or over-registration, increases the risk of election fraud at subsequent elections. Frequently the final seven or eight seats in an election are usually settled by a total margin of a few hundred votes. With the anticipated tight situation in the Dáil, this small margin could decide the make-up of the next Government. Hence, the 800,000 inaccuracies in the current register could, if misappropriated, pervert the true wishes of the electorate. Governments have been toppled on less. Hence, the extreme urgency in correcting the register within the coming year.

A golden opportunity was missed recently by not using the 4,500 census enumerators to distribute electoral registration forms to householders along with the census forms. I cannot understand the reason this opportunity was missed. There is no point in crying over spilled milk at this stage. I fully support the timely proposal by the Labour Party Private Members' Bill to establish the office of the electoral registration commissioner to supervise the work of local authorities in their duty of register compilation.

A system of checks and balances prevailed in the past when the political parties scrutinised everyone entering a polling station. This was at a time, especially in rural Ireland, when everybody knew who was coming into the polling station There was no need to ask for photographic identity. They could identify the person as they walked into the station. Those times are gone and even those of us living in rural areas in many cases no longer know our next door neighbour. When they ticked off the people, they also knew which box they would be ticking as their number one. These boys could do entry polls and tell the type of turnout and the political affiliations that were coming in. Other parties could use the situation to their advantage. They could spot who was not coming to vote and make telephone calls and send cars to ensure those people came to the polling station. The safeguard of the personation agent does not exist any longer and a new system will need to be put in their place.

The proposal to use the PPS number is entirely logical and is the way forward. Anyone using a PPS number twice should be forced to answer for their actions. I spoke to an individual who successfully tested the system during an abortion referendum by going to vote at two polling stations as a dry run for a general election. I met another individual who informed me that in a previous general election he had voted three times. The striking feature of both feats was that neither individual was yet 18 years old. Some people see the opportunity to test the system.

Many people are apathetic about elections and there is public apathy about politics and politicians in general. We should encourage people to vote and in particular encourage students to vote. I regard the notion of polling booths in colleges as being a good idea.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I understand Deputies Wall, Lynch and Broughan will share time.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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I support the Bill proposed by Deputy Gilmore to deal with a problem which has been ongoing for many years. Unless it is decided that this situation is not acceptable to any party in this House, it will be taken that the Minister agrees with the current mix and with leaving it in place for the next general election.

This is the first occasion since I came to this House that I have seen such unanimous support for a proposal but it is clear that the Government parties will vote against it. No speaker during this debate spoke against action being taken. The Minister stated in the House that the electoral register is inaccurate by 25%. It is very difficult to understand how a Minister could say that 25% of the population of the country cannot vote when he should be acting on behalf of the people. His efforts to rectify the problem are pathetic.

He spoke about the local authorities making a difference. In fairness to Kildare County Council it tried to make a difference. A number of clinics were held during the daytime but the numbers attending were minimal. Everyone was out at work during the day and they were not in a position to take a day's leave to register. The problem was highlighted for all of us in the last by-elections in Meath and Kildare. When we went to the houses we realised the impossibility of working from the electoral register. I went into a housing estate in Celbridge which had 59 houses but only four people in the whole estate were registered voters. Despite this, tonight we heard the Minister state that he will give a small sum of money to the local authorities when, in fact, this mechanism has been tried in Kildare and has failed dismally to address the major problem confronting us. I spoke to the officials who went to the clinics. They said it was a waste of time and money because they went around to the different areas in the county and so few people came through the doors.

There is another major problem, especially for young people. No one who has come into my office seeking to be put on the register will go to the Garda station to sign any papers. They just will not do so.

If we are really sincere about this matter, something must be done. Having listened to everyone, no doubt everyone wants to do it but the will is not there because the Minister does not have the drive to do it. It seems difficult to understand that the Minister, who is the representative of the people in this matter, is not willing to do it. He is willing to see so many citizens not entitled to vote and he is willing to merely give a pittance towards the financial implications involved for a local authority.

If a Deputy tables a parliamentary question or telephones the Department of Social and Family Affairs, the first item they will be asked for is the PPS number for the individual. Within seconds, irrespective of when that person worked last, which may have been 40 or 50 years ago, the Department official has that name on a screen in front of him or her, and yet this is rejected as a means of trying to take some action to give everyone the right to vote.

Last week we saw a great parade. The honour of 1916 was reflected greatly in O'Connell Street. Everyone was there, and yet the people who were there on behalf of the Government know in their hearts and souls, because Deputy Gilmore, my party's spokesman on the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, has continually stated it in this House, along with Deputy Quinn and others, that the rights of the people are being deprived. We had the honour and glory of last week and yet we know that 25% of the people are not being given the opportunity, which was fought for in 1916 and to which they are entitled, to vote.

The mechanism being used is a total joke. Unless the Minister is willing to call a halt and state this must be addressed, it will not happen. I listened to the Government and other speakers this evening. I listened to Deputy Fleming and his colleagues. Every one of them, typical of Fianna Fáil, spoke against the Government but will vote with it. That is the mechanism that has been used previously and it was used tonight. Their attitude is that if they get this out of the way tonight and move on, there will not be anything about it until the next election.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Wall is eroding his colleagues' time.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Something must be done. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, to bring to the attention of the Minister that it is time to call a halt, look at this and rectify it once and for all.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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I warmly welcome the Electoral Registration Commissioner Bill 2005 and congratulate my colleague, Deputy Gilmore, for introducing it in the House. I cannot see any good reason the Government should not simply adopt it, move it to Committee Stage as soon as possible and bring it through the House. By this time next year the general election may well be over. There may be many citizens who would dearly like to have a say, perhaps in removing the Government in particular, and who will not get the opportunity given the shambolic nature of the current electoral register. I commend Deputy Gilmore for the attention he has drawn to this, in particular over the past year.

I recall two discussions on Dublin City Council in which all local politicians expressed a strong viewpoint, the first on the issue of dogs and the second on the electoral register. Every one of us was an expert on both issues and virtually everybody contributed. Even ten or 12 years ago there were grave and growing concerns about alleged corruption of the register in high density estates in Dublin. I remember one colleague in particular, Councillor Eamonn O'Brien, who continuously raised this problem which, he believed, was partly based on the fact that often the registrars were fearful at times of entering certain areas such as tower blocks to invigilate the existing electoral roll. It is no wonder that at different elections there were serious allegations that some individuals had been prepared to vote early and often, and took advantage of the failure of the local authority to maintain a decent electoral roll.

We politicians, probably more than most other groups, deeply need that register to function. Most of us who have been in this House for a while tend to want to keep in touch with electors. We are given some facility to do so. One of our most valuable roles is that we constantly report, as we probably all have done today, to different estates and areas of our constituencies.

It is a great handicap that the register, even of long-standing settled estates, contains the names of people who are dead. Today I heard somebody state the name of a person who has been dead for 15 years who is still clearly named in the register, which is totally unacceptable.

Even if the huge figures concerning the corruption of the current register are an exaggeration and one accepts the minimum figure of 200,000 for the forthcoming general election, I was once elected by managing to get ahead of another candidate by 19 votes, so it is clear that 200,000 votes across 42 constituencies will prove important.

Many colleagues have drawn attention to the particular problem we encounter with new estates. My constituency is a vast urban district of 20,000 or 25,000. Nearly all of the residents live in high-density apartments. Although there was a good turnout in the local elections, I noted that the newer estates and the high-density estates were very difficult to reach, not least of course, as other colleagues like Deputies Burton and Gilmore mentioned, because these are gated communities. It is difficult, if not impossible, for a hard-working politician to maintain a relationship with a gated community. Given that many of the apartments in such gated communities are rented, it is virtually impossible to keep a database of one's constituents in order to serve them. There is a special necessity, particularly in the case of these urban areas. Whereas a rural colleague mentioned that it is so much more difficult in modern life to be as aware of one's neighbours as one would have been in years gone by, the nature of modern urban development makes it virtually impossible.

In my view there will be a good turnout at the next election. It will be like the local elections. Many people are in the long grass and will come out to remove the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, and the rest of the Government. They did so in the local elections and they are sharpening the pencils and getting ready.

One of the issues last year was that there were many young people telling us in the last two or three weeks before the local elections that they were not on the register and, as Deputy Catherine Murphy stated, were devastated because they could not vote for the first time. They were really upset and their parents came to us, but we could not get them on the supplementary roll because the time limit had passed. The information campaign had not been strong enough either.

For those who genuinely wish to turn out, it is distressing that we will let them down by having a bad register. It may well suit the Minister of State to have a corrupt register because it may reduce severely the number of people who might be voting for the first time and who might have a strong mind to vote against the Government.

I commend my colleague, Deputy Quinn, who has raised this issue repeatedly in the context of the census. Approximately 2,000 enumerators visited houses and apartments recently, as per their statutory duty, to deliver census forms. That would have provided a useful opportunity to reform the register, perhaps by adopting Deputy Gilmore's legislation. I also commend Deputy Gilmore for proposing a strong role for the commissioner and a strengthened invigilation role for local authorities so that they will do their job, given it is clear many of them have not done so.

Australia has had an electoral commissioner for more than 20 years, although voting is compulsory there. Voting should be compulsory everywhere. Over the past two decades the electoral commission in Australia has worked well and the country has experienced high turnouts. The UK has also taken a serious look at that.

The electoral register should be co-ordinated with various other databases such as the post office database which is 100% accurate, and the ESB and Bord Gáis networks. Deputy Gilmore's proposal would enable us to do that and that is why it is valuable.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I welcome the legislation and I congratulate Deputy Gilmore on having the foresight to introduce it, although he has been discussing it for a considerable time. The rest of us are also concerned about the register.

I received a query from a person who could not obtain a permit to park outside his house. Disc parking was recently introduced in the area and he contacted my office because he did not want to ask his landlord to sign the permit application, given he is a little stroppy about such formalities. Six other people live in the house and he did not want to endure the expense of going to a doctor to ask him to sign a letter. I asked whether he was on the electoral register because I told him that if he was, it proved he lived on the street and, therefore, he would be entitled to a parking permit. However, he is not on the register and I asked him why. He replied that he did not know and that no one had ever called to ask him whether he had registered. He lives in a house on a busy street with six other people and no one ever called.

The electoral register should not only give an individual the ability to vote but it should provide local authorities with information about him or her. The legislation will ensure the information contained in the register will not be abused, which is important. Increasingly, the principal occupants of a house, usually a mother and father, or the principal tenants will not register anybody else at the address because of the implications that has for service charges, which they cannot afford. The information on the register should only be used for voting and identification purposes. Recently I did a mail shot in a small area in my constituency. A total of 64 letters were returned from houses on one street with the message, "Not known at this address". However, I used the electoral register to issue the mail shot. Nobody had bothered to update the register or to find out where the people had moved. It is incredible that this should happen but it is the reality.

I am not sure that voting should be compulsory, even though, as politicians, it could mean Valhalla or Utopia for us, but it should be compulsory to register to vote, regardless of whether one exercises the option. As other Members said, how many of us have stood outside polling stations on election day and met people who were distraught as they left because they were not registered to vote? They were registered for the previous election but their names had been removed. This is occurring more frequently because local authorities do not have the wherewithal, financially or physically, to maintain the register.

The commissioner should not only have the power to maintain the register, he or she should also have the power to determine the location of polling stations. I am sick and tired of being approached by elderly people complaining about polling stations being moved to inaccessible locations resulting in them not voting for the first time in their lives. That carry on is very political and I have witnessed it too often in Cork to believe otherwise.

By ensuring the electoral register is maintained, the State is ensuring our democracy is healthy. A number of politicians, such as the Minister of State's constituency colleague, do not have to worry about being re-elected because they had surpluses of 5,000 last time out. When I was first elected to the local authority in 1985, following the 16th count I was two votes ahead of my nearest challenger. Such margins will be repeated more often. The last seat in the Minister of State's constituency in 2002 was taken by less than ten votes. One can imagine the effect of an inaccurate register in such circumstances. That was not the only seat determined by a few votes and more seats will won by similar margins in future elections. If we are not careful, we will be to blame for people not voting and we will no longer be able to use the excuse that they are not interested. We will not know if they are not interested because they will not be registered.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We have had a good and positive discussion and it is heartening that there is general consensus among the parties on the need for short-term action to make the electoral register more accurate and comprehensive. Many members have acknowledged the value and immediacy of the programme of action being put in place by Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Deputy Gilmore, while promoting the Bill, accepts the importance of action in the context of the next election while Deputy Costello, Deputy McCormack and others also shared this view.

The Government's approach is to focus on what needs to be done in the period immediately ahead. As the Minister said last night, we have until 1 November next to take effective action. The proposals in the Labour Party's Bill could not achieve the necessary changes in the time available. However, practical steps will be taken to improve the register. First, we are providing updated and consolidated guidance so that all local authorities work to the same template. The specific details of the guidance were set out by my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Roche. The guidance is a real and practical contribution to improving the quality of the register. My Department is finalising the guidance in light of the comments received in the consultation process. In the final version, the importance of local authorities cross-checking the register with other databases available to them will be highlighted and opportunities for local authorities to use other databases will also be explored.

The use of census enumerators and others to assist local authorities in preparing the next register as part of an intensive registration campaign will be conducted this summer. The Government is also prepared to provide additional financial resources to local authorities to support intensified action on the register. These resources can be made available this year to ensure that a comprehensive once-off check is effectively undertaken.

An early start will be made for the register campaign in 2007-08 with the issuing of the relevant registration form shortly from my Department. Approximately 30,000 deaths occur each year. New arrangements to delete deceased persons from the register are now also in place and the new system allows for the efficient and timely deletion of the names of deceased persons from the register. National awareness campaigns and related local campaigns associated with the preparation of the register were undertaken last November and it is intended that intensified campaigns will take place again this year.

In his contribution last night, the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, stressed the importance of using fully the potential of the Internet in the registration process. An on-line search facility is now available for people to check if they are on the register. To give more help to people, my Department will provide a better linkage between our own website and the local authority search facilities.

We must be conscious of what happens at polling stations. Strong legislation has been introduced in recent years to prevent abuses of the system. However, this must be mirrored on the ground by vigilance on the part of polling staff and personation agents to ensure that only those eligible are permitted to vote. In advance of the next general election, my Department will stress to returning officers and presiding officers their role and their duties in the prevention of voter fraud. There will be a strengthening of controls at all polling stations and new guidelines will be issued in this area.

Debates on electoral matters in the House and elsewhere can often be quite animated, to say the least. It is good that we can agree in the way that we have on the immediate issues before us. However, for the reasons already set out, it is not possible for the Government to support the fundamentals of this Bill.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Our system of government is based on the concept of representative democracy. The electoral register is the foundation stone of a representative democratic system. It is the fundamental linchpin and without it, our system is not democratic or representative. The accuracy of the electoral register is of vital importance if we are to continue to pretend that we are representative of all the people. Since this debate started last night, there has been agreement among almost all speakers that the current register, that linchpin of our system, is grossly inaccurate and, if that is so, we have an overwhelming responsibility to make it accurate. Inaction is not an option.

Deputy Gilmore has presented a well thought-out solution to this problem. It is not an invented solution, but a carving up of solutions that are in existence elsewhere, particularly in Australia, which has a system analogous to our own. It is a robust, clear and logical set of proposals. It is an honest effort at addressing a real and identifiable issue that we all agree must be addressed in the short and long term.

This is the Labour Party's second attempt at introducing reform. Deputy Quinn pointed out that the recently completed census was the ideal opportunity for enumerators to gather accurate and reliable information. That plea was ignored, but this second attempt should be seized by the Government. However, the response of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has been enormously disappointing. He dismissed Deputy Gilmore's proposal as a new quango. He called it all-powerful and unaccountable. What about the electoral boundary commission? We rely on that very powerful commission to set the boundaries for an election. It is never altered and the Bill establishing the commission goes through these Houses without amendment. We trust and rely on it and it is all-powerful in the decisions that it makes.

I have the privilege of working internationally with a group in Africa called AWEPA. We have a remit to export and build the capacity for democracy across Africa. The first and most important task is to ensure a fair, comprehensive and accurate voters' list. That is the first issue to correct if we are to have a fair democratic system. The Minister casually dismissed Deputy Gilmore's approach, but what is his solution? What did he offer last night as an alternative? He acknowledged that there is a difficulty and a problem that must be addressed. However, as a solution, he suggests that his Department will provide "consolidated guidance" to local authorities. That is like praying to the Holy Spirit. It will descend upon local authorities in a consolidated fashion and we will get it right the next time. He also suggests better procedures for deleting people who are dead and possibly more money — nothing specific — as well as prominent websites.

That is the sum total of the Minister's response to a democratic deficit that demands a serious response. The system is not working by common agreement, yet the Minister is determined that it is to remain unaltered. He dismisses two sensible, logical and well thought-out solutions put forward by the Labour Party as simply not good enough. I say to the Minister that his solution is not good enough.

We know that democracy in this country is extremely fragile. We know from experience that voter fraud is not unknown so every vote is critical. In the next general election, there will be two platforms for the people to decide which will shape the destiny of this country for the following five years. It is critically important that the view of every citizen with an entitlement to vote is represented. The voting register we currently have will not allow that to happen. My constituency of Wexford, becoming more competitive by the day, deserves to be sure that every voter is heard and that a fair and accurate count of all the people is achieved. I urge the Department, the Minister and the Minister of State present to listen to the wise counsel of Deputy Gilmore and the Labour Party benches. Otherwise, we will rue the day.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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On behalf of the Labour Party I thank all Members who contributed to this debate. The electoral register is the spinal cord of our democratic life. If it is damaged, the body politic is disabled. An accurate electoral register is essential for the accuracy and integrity of our elections. For some time now the Labour Party has been drawing attention to the unprecedented inaccuracy of the current electoral register. Last night, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government acknowledged that the electoral register could be inaccurate by up to 860,000 entries, or 25% of the eligible electorate. It was the first time the Government formally accepted the full scale of the problem.

I was not surprised the Minister refused to accept this Labour Party Private Members' Bill but I had expected that in rejecting it, the Minister would set out in detail the steps the Government will take to correct the register of voters, for which it has ultimate responsibility. Instead, we were treated to one of the most pathetic responses to come from a Minister on Private Members' business. The Minister patronisingly denigrated the Labour Party Bill by claiming it would foster quangos. Coming from a Government which has given the health service to the Health Service Executive and road building to the National Roads Authority and from Ministers who are tripping over each other to divest themselves of their executive powers, that is a bit rich. He blamed local authorities instead of himself for failing to keep the electoral register accurate, clapped himself on the back for sending out a few circulars to the county councils and made a few unspecified, uncosted and unreliable promises about the 2007-2008 register. Nowhere in his reply did he take responsibility for the shambolic state of the electoral register. There was no explanation as to why he or his two predecessors in Government have failed in their duty to ensure the accuracy of the voting register and there was no real commitment to putting it right. I am becoming weary of the way in which the Minister blames local authorities for everything that goes wrong on his watch. He seems to believe that the buck stops with a grade V officer in the county hall and not at the Minister's desk in the Custom House.

He is correct that the House should not have to divide on the issue of the electoral register. However, the Government has had plenty of advance notice that urgent action is needed on the matter but has failed thus far to act. In every debate I remember in this House on electoral legislation — we have had many such debates over the past five years — Members from every party and none have drawn attention to the inaccuracies in the electoral register. The Oireachtas Committee on Environment and Local Government held hearings on the issue. During the many exchanges on electronic voting, the Labour Party argued that the €60 million would have been better spent on correcting the register than on purchasing electoral play stations for the former Ministers for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputies Cullen and Noel Dempsey.

Over the past year, Labour Party Deputies, including Deputy Quinn, have brought practical suggestions to the Government on how an accurate electoral register could be compiled in time for the next general election but none of those proposals has been acted upon. The result is we still have an electoral register in which one in every five entries is wrong. This inaccurate and unreliable electoral register is due to the negligence, inactivity and incompetence of this Government.

The Labour Party is interested in resolving this issue because our people and democracy deserve no less. It could have been resolved with the money misspent on electronic voting. The register could have been updated in parallel with the census process and it will be corrected if this Labour Party Bill is enacted and implemented. However, the best the Minister could do last night was list a number of routine administrative tasks which he portrayed as original political initiatives. He told us all about the wordy circulars and guidelines he plans to issue to local authorities, down to a description of the appendices, none of which tell local authorities anything further to the rules and practices they should already know.

The big idea in the Minister's speech was a new link to the electronic database for the 30,000 deaths recorded in Ireland each year. After nine years in government, the Minister thinks it is a major initiative to remove the names of the deceased from the electoral register. Dare one suggest that they should have been doing this all along? He offered some slight hope that action will be taken to improve the 2007-08 register, on which it is expected the conduct of the next general election will be based. He says the process will start early but does not tell us what that means. He says that local authorities could engage experienced census enumerators to complement local authority staff in the collection of register data. That is a far cry from the kite which the Minister successfully flew at the weekend that the census enumerators would be sent out for a second time to compile a new register. What happened to that idea? Was it just another example of Government by public relations in which a good yarn is spun to a journalist but nothing is done about the problem?

He says he will provide some money — unspecified and uncosted amounts — to local authorities for the compilation of the 2007-08 register. That, at least, is an advance on his attitude of a few short months ago, when he turned down a request for financial assistance from Kildare County Council, which explained to him the difficulties it faced in annually updating the register in an area of rapid development. The Minister has made it very clear that this unqualified extra money for the register will only be available on a once off basis. He appears to imply there will be some extra money available to councils for one year only in order to update the electoral register, whereas there will be money available every year to store the useless electronic voting machines purchased by his predecessor. Is it any wonder that, in a country of unprecedented wealth, the elderly cannot get a proper bed in a hospital when they are ill or find a garda when they are at risk from crime? A Government which, in the computer age, cannot even compile an accurate list of the names and addresses of those over 18 years in a country of only 4 million people, cannot be trusted to run hospitals, the schools and the public services.

If the Minister had given a realistic response to the proposals of the Labour Party, we would not press this Bill to a vote but he has offered nothing. Members from all sides of this House have reiterated that the electoral register on which the conduct of our democracy is based is a shambles and needs urgent correction. However, the Minister has rebuffed every proposal made from these benches with regard to resolving the matter while offering only uncosted and unspecified administrative measures in response. It is simply not good enough. The Labour Party wants Second Stage of the Bill to be put to a vote and asks Members with concerns about the state of the electoral register to vote in favour of it.