Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I do, he is a nice man. We also gave an instruction to councils that before they deleted, for example, the name of a person from the register living as a tenant in a council house, they should use the other resources available to them. Where they had access to other databases, they should have been prudent and used those, particularly in areas where a disproportionate level of deletions have been recorded.

Regrettably, there is not a simple way of compiling the electoral register. To the credit of local government, if there was a simple way, it would have been done. We can all point the finger and lay blame but that is what people find maddening about politicians. We know that for a variety of regions the register has been a mess for years. We are all complicit in that. The stories concerning the register told to those of us who canvassed in the by-elections in Meath and Kildare were appalling. Whole areas were disenfranchised. That is unacceptable. If I were the kind of Minister who wanted to play it safe, I would leave the register unchanged as it was previously. However, none of us would respect democracy if we know that something so fundamental is wrong and did not try to correct it.

Senator Bannon made a point, which has been made by Deputy O'Dowds on several occasions, namely, that the register belongs to the people. That is true and the people should take a great interest in it, which is a positive outcome of this process. We need an electoral commission, but it will not be put in place before the next general election. I will call for ideas in that respect. Nobody on any side of the House should claim that he or she knows everything. We should listen to each other, learn from that experience and put in place a register that will work. That is the way I would approach this.