Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

The Minister of State mentioned our motion was a knee-jerk reaction to the situation. The motion may be a knee-jerk reaction, but at least it is a reaction. We have seen nothing from the Government during the past nine years. To quote the Taoiseach, it must be a Shank's mare exercise. It should have dawned on the Taoiseach that we should have done this a long time before now. The Taoiseach stated that in the last election a house in his constituency had more than 80 people registered to vote and most of them did. Did the alarm bells not ring with the Taoiseach four years ago that there was a problem with the register of electors? A knee-jerk reaction four years ago could have yielded a better register of electors and the problem we have now may not have existed.

The chairman of the Association of County and City Councils stated the registers are in a bad state, which we all know, and that any results could be legally challenged. This would make a farce of the democratic system. We suggest that third-level students be used. Much of the work must be done between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. when people are in. It is pointless to do it in the mornings and afternoons when only approximately 10% or 20% of people are at home.

The issue of e-voting machines is included in our motion. I presume that issue has been put to bed and that we will forget about the system once and for all. It costs in excess of €700,000 on an annual basis to store these machines. I presume that waste of public moneys will be attended to and that we will scrap the system. There is no confidence in it from a public point of view. I would like to discuss a number of other items but I know my time has concluded.