Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

Senator Finucane, acting leader of the Opposition, raised again the issue of the electoral register. The Cathaoirleach will remember that there was an extensive debate on this matter last Thursday on the Order of Business. Senator Finucane came forward with an excellent idea, namely, that each county council could appoint students to work in this area, as happened with the student employment scheme. This would awaken interest in politics among the young. It is an idea that should be brought to the Minister, Deputy Roche, and I hope we will have him to the House to debate the issue.

There is too much emphasis on the possibility that Sinn Féin will defraud the people of votes and that people will vote in dead men's shoes and all of that. The real fraud is that people who are entitled to vote are not on the register, which is a mammoth problem. I spoke last week of my experiences in this regard and will not bore the House again. However, I was out in my area again in the past two nights and it is a major problem in every area I go into. Out of 500 houses, 200 people were not on the register.