Camillus Glynn (Fianna Fail)

"Tús maith, leath na hoibre" is an old adage in the Irish language and we have made a good start here today by accepting this motion without amendment. It is a victory for common sense and a recognition by all sides of the House that something must be done in this area. I compliment my colleagues, Senator Boyle and Senator de Búrca, for putting down the motion.

Unquestionably, something must be done with the electoral system. To a certain extent successive Governments have indulged in self delusion over the years with regard to the electoral register. The register has not worked, is not working and, if the current process continues unchanged, it will continue not to work. There is recognition by all sides of the House that proactive measures must be taken by the Minister, as outlined in the programme for Government, and that there must be a common approach to resolving the difficulties. The fact that there are 25 Acts in seven codes dealing directly or solely with electoral matters is evidence that we must consolidate our approach to this problem.

I strongly support the use of PPS numbers. That proposal was made in Northern Ireland, as Senator Coffey mentioned, and it appears to be working there. In a few months I will be 29 years in public life as an elected representative in local authorities and the Seanad. After every election there is controversy on all sides of the political spectrum about the register of electors. Nothing seems to work. Throwing money at the current system is like throwing water into the sea. It is not working so we must go back to the drawing board.

I urge the Minister to consider making electoral registration compulsory. In my experience, people deliberately opted not to be included in the register. Generally it was for spurious reasons that would not stand up to scrutiny. Members of the House will be able to conjure reasons for people not wishing to go on the electoral register. I am not sure the tax man would be in any doubt about them. We must also examine the role of local elected representatives. Members have made points about local and national constituencies and my colleague, Senator Ellis, will wish to comment on the breaching of county boundaries and the division of counties. I agree with the opposition to such divisions. We are a Celtic race and, as such, we are resistant to change. If we put in a system today and left it in place for 30 years, it would be resisted all the way to hell and back on its inception but after 30 years we could not try to change it, because that would be resisted to hell and back too. We are a funny race in that regard.

Voter apathy was raised by Senator Coffey and he is absolutely right. There are large urban electoral areas with very low turnouts. I know of one county borough where the turnout, if my memory serves me correctly, was in the late 20s. That is an outrageous scandal. Good men and women fought hard and gave up their lives for democracy in this country. To see that thrown away in the manner in which it is by people not bothering their heads to turn out — with only 28%, or 30% or even 40% voting in some areas — is an insult to the whole concept of the electoral system.

I do not know if the Minister is aware that we have a junior county council in Westmeath. It is a marvellous idea and compliments the teaching of civics in our schools. We should put a spotlight on the teaching of civics because it is very important. If the installation of a junior county council is not practised in other local authorities, I ask the Minister to ensure it is done so in the future. It is very important and is working very well in County Westmeath. I do not see why it could not work elsewhere.

If we are to improve our electoral system it can be done only by mature, measured and meaningful proposals. In that context, I compliment the Members on the other side of the House, who did not table an amendment to this motion. There is a clear recognition by all sides of this House that in terms of electoral reform, the register of electors and other areas, we have a problem. The only way we will solve that problem is to work together, with a meeting of minds and a mature approach to the issue. This debate is a victory for common sense.

I wish to refer briefly to the issue of boundary extensions. As a former long-standing local authority representative, until the abolition of the dual mandate, which I supported fully, I believe we must have a more sensible approach to the issue of boundary extensions. During my first term as chairman of Westmeath County Council in 1988-89 Athlone Urban District Council, as it was known then, made an application for a boundary extension. The issue dragged on for donkey's years. We must get by an impasse like that. I am sure that scenario is replicated all over the country. There must be a more proactive and speedy way of dealing with such applications.

With regard to election spending, I ask the Minister to examine an issue which does not really apply to the Dáil or the Seanad, but to local authorities. We must recognise that membership of local authorities, county councils, county borough councils and large urban district councils such as Bray, Tralee, Dundalk and so on, as well as the five borough councils of Kilkenny, Sligo, Clonmel, Wexford and Drogheda is a full-time job. I am speaking here as someone who was nominated to this House and was a member of two local authorities. It is a full-time job. I ask the Minister to closely examine how people who are in employment can also serve as public representatives. At the moment, on Westmeath County Council, approximately 12 or 13 members out of 23 are devoting all of their time to their council work. This may not be pertinent to today's discussion but it is something that must be tackled. The Minister has proven in his short term in office that he is prepared to grapple with such problems, take them by the scruff of the neck and shake the dead wood off them. Something must be done in this area. I wish the Minister well. He has set himself a timescale of some eight weeks in terms of bringing forward proposals. Is that correct?