Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

On Senator Bradford's point, I have committed to producing guidelines over this summer. I suggested in the Dáil that it would be a good idea to refer these guidelines to the relevant Oireachtas committee. This is one area where politicians know better than most the exact situation. Over the years, every politician has been in a position where he or she believed the register to be incorrect. They may have gone to a household the day before elections and been disappointed to find that five people are not registered to vote.

We need to segment these issues and examine different elements. Three of the contributions to this debate mentioned the responsibility for compiling the electoral register. This lies with the local authorities. It is done well by some local authorities but others do it in a desultory fashion. Senator McDowell asked for a figure. According to the census of population, the number of people eligible to vote compared to the overall combined registers reveals a difference of 300,000 people.