Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

The proposers of the motion are well aware that the measures they are proposing are unrealistic in the short term. The Minister, Deputy Roche, has set out a programme of action which matches the timescale between now and November next when the new draft register is due to be published. The Minister's statement makes it clear that the Government is acting in this regard.

I will deal briefly with some of the measures proposed. While consideration is being given to use PPS numbers for voter registration, it is a longer-term measure and could not realistically be achieved before the next election. There are a number of complex and sensitive issues attaching to the proposal. As voter registration in Ireland is not mandatory, there must be a full debate on the issues involved before we can go down the road to compulsory registration.

Establishing an electoral commission has been mooted from time to time. Fine Gael can hardly be saying that a commission could be legislated for, established and made operational this side of an election. Perhaps it is a good idea, but not in the short term. Such a complex matter needs and deserves measured and careful consideration of the issues involved. For example, answers to the general scope and structure of the commission, its functions, whether it would be accountable to the Oireachtas, the Government, the Minister, who would be the members, the staffing arrangements and so on are not included in the Fine Gael motion.

There should, of course, be the maximum assurance about the credentials of people presenting themselves to vote. However, the Fine Gael proposal to make mandatory the production of ID cards at polling stations in all cases does not take account of the need for discretion to be used. Requiring identification documents in all cases would cause delay in voting and remove necessary flexibility from the system. For example, there would be no discretion to permit voting to elderly or other persons who may be known to polling staff but failed to bring the identity document. I have seen people being challenged in polling stations. I did not care who they were voting for, but I did not like to see very elderly people who had made a huge effort to get out of the house for perhaps the first time in months to vote being challenged. On one occasion, I saw a fool challenging someone who should have got a prize for turning up to vote. People should use their savvy. It would be dangerous to make voting mandatory because some people get carried away with their own power.

I will refer later to other issues raised in the motion. At this stage, it is clear that the motion misses the point. Setting out diversions in the motion would not effect any improvement between now and next November. What can be done between now and then?