Camillus Glynn (Fianna Fail)

Aontaím go hiomlán leis an Seanadóir O'Toole maidir le Foinse. Tá an ceart aige agus glaoim ar an Rialtas rud éigin a dhéanamh faoi sin chomh luath agus is féidir.

What I have to say should be recorded because it is uttered after every election. The electoral register is a disaster. I am sure every Member of this House would say exactly the same. As members of the Joint Committee on the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Senator Coffey, I and perhaps others from this House compiled a report having visited the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland. Can this report be brought before the House as soon as possible in the presence of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government because something must be done?

Many people who voted all their lives were disenfranchised. There must be a better way to compile the register because what is being done currently is not working. I met an old lady well into her 80s who voted all her life in tears because her name was deleted from the electoral register. I am sure this was the result of a clerical error of some description. However, a way must be found for persons in that situation to vote, as they are entitled to do. I would welcome an early debate, with the Minister present, to discuss the report of the Joint Committee on the Environment, Heritage and Local Government on the status of the electoral register.