Seanad debates

Thursday, 30 November 2006

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006: Second Stage

 

2:00 pm

Photo of James BannonJames Bannon (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister and thank him for finally taking this debate which I have continually requested. I feel as if I have run a marathon and I am on my last gasp. The finishing post is either just ahead or an illusion. It has been a long road but I hope we are about to reach a conclusion to the ongoing electoral fiasco. The register of electors is undoubtedly in a mess and no amount of debating the issue can change this. Regardless of how much talk there is about the problem, the Minister cannot pass the buck and blame anyone other than the Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats Government.

The Government has failed in its duty to introduce an honest, fair and transparent system of voter registration to allow voters to cast their votes without fear of electoral fraud in any guise. Compounding the felony, while the Minister plays dumb and insists that everything is fine, the Taoiseach accompanies and supports him in perfect harmony, attempting to convince us that all is well. Such a chorus is a pathetic attempt to drown out the voices of dissent, the voices that demand accountability on the issue and access to our legitimate right to have a register of electors that adheres to certain guidelines and to bring uniformity to the process in every county.

Hand in hand with the tens of thousands disappearing from the register of electors, figures in some areas, including my area of Longford-Westmeath, show a high number of errors. I have frequently highlighted the puzzling number whose names have been removed from the register. However, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government's own statistics show that the numbers on the draft register strangely and suspiciously exceed the total adult population in some areas, particularly in the Border region. The total number of errors in the register could reach 300,000.

The total adult population of County Longford is 24,810, yet the draft register contains 27,132 names, giving an excess figure of 2,322, or 9%. County Westmeath has a total adult population of 57,141, yet there are 59,791 names on the draft register, a gap of 2,650, or 5%. While I welcome the extension of the deadline for registration from 25 November to 9 December, it should be further extended until at least 31 January to allow time for such discrepancies to be rectified. The extension until 9 December will not allow sufficient time to sort out this electorate mess.

What of the thousands who are likely to be turned away from polling stations and the candidates who will narrowly miss out on a seat and issue a legal challenge? What of Members of this House who are obliged to put up with extraordinary statements from the Leader who, when replying to the call I made last week for a debate on the electoral register, said, "A person can vote only once, but his or her name can appear ten times on the register". In light of the shambles that is the register, what is to stop people voting ten times? Is the Leader stating she is happy to accept errors?

The turnout in the forthcoming election will be false. Europe will monitor the position in that regard. We always boast about the level of voter turnout at elections. However, the problems with the register will lead to false figures in respect of the turnout.

Fine Gael has proposed that all citizens should be automatically added to the register when they turn 18, which is a logical and self-regulating proposal. I have repeatedly called for the use of PPS numbers to update the register in a simple efficient manner, as is the case in Northern Ireland. If the current fiasco is to be satisfactorily resolved, a further realistic extension must be put in place to allow the register to remain open for change until the end of January.

The Data Protection Commissioner suggested that the Oireachtas should ensure local authorities can publish the names of people deleted from the register, which would allow individuals to seek clarification of their position. The Minister continues to make a dog's dinner of what should be a relatively simple administrative matter. A total of €12 million of taxpayers' money has been spent in attempting to sort out this fiasco and a further €60 million was wasted on the e-voting disaster. If ever we were seeking a resigning issue, this is it. The preservation of our democracy demands it.

It is now the responsibility of voters to check the draft electoral register to see if their names are still on it. However, this has been made extremely difficult because the register is not readily available and voters cannot check whether their names have been struck off. The register must be made available on-line as a matter of urgency. This mechanism would allow everyone to check his or her status and it can be used at almost no cost. Copies of the register should be available in schools, post offices and community centres in every parish. The electoral system belongs to the people, not to one political party or Government, and it is the responsibility of the Minister of the day to preserve and enhance it as the outward manifestation and driving mechanism of our democratic process.

In the Dáil on Tuesday last and in his initial contribution here, the Minister stated that all political parties have long been aware that the electoral register has not been as accurate as should be the case and that, over the years, efforts have been directed towards facilitating people to get on the register. However, the reality is that the register is a mess because the Minister has failed to listen to and has refused to learn from the wishes of the people and the Opposition, and even from the dissenting voices in his party, of which there were many in respect of this matter.

The Government must pass control of the register to an electoral commission. The recent political rows and debates on this issue would have been prevented if an organisation such as the Referendum Commission had been given responsibility for managing the franchise, the voting system and the register of electors. It is clear there is no central control of the register. Until we have an electoral commission with statutory powers to run elections, to deal with the register of electors and to examine issues such as electronic voting and voting machines, problems will continue to arise. What can one expect from a Minster and a Government that proceed to buy electronic voting machines for more than €50 million, despite their unproven reliability and openness to fraudulent activity? These obsolete machines are now kept in cold storage at an annual cost of at least €1 million. How much longer will the Minister continue to hoard them at the taxpayers' expense?

The Government is extending is remit on a daily basis. We have an elected Government, an Executive Government and a "Department of Cronyism", which appoints its own personnel to positions throughout the country and which wastes taxpayers' money on one fiasco after another. In other words, we have what is bordering on a dictatorship.

Perfecting the electoral register has occupied all parties for far too long. The Fianna Fáil Party has held the reins of power for 18 of the past 20 years. I am not suggesting there is any correlation between that and the state of the register, but if ever the register was a shambles, it is under this Minister. He needed only to examine the position in Northern Ireland where the authorities have competently managed to get the system right. The system in the North avoids electoral fraud while allowing for the names of voters, for example, those who have died or new residents, to be removed from or added to the electoral register. Is it beyond the capacity of the Government and Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to introduce a similar system here? Consideration should be given to the system that is in place across the Border.

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