Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I am delighted the Senator has given me the opportunity to touch on a number of points. There is no silver bullet solution to preparing an electoral register. A quote I made in the other House pointed out that one of the international bodies that considers this area states the most difficult and intractable area, and the one most fraught with difficulties, is the preparation of the electoral roll.

It is important to deal with the specific points. A view seems to have taken hold that somehow the use of PPS numbers is a simple way of drafting the electoral register. The unfortunate truth is that this is not so, for the following reasons. First, there are well in excess of 5 million PPS numbers. Second, PPS numbers are frequently given to people who are under the age of majority, or the age at which they can vote. Third, PPS numbers are not directly related to one's address so there is no way of automatically relating one's PPS number to the place where one should be entitled to vote.