Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

People in rural areas know many more people. Busy bodies in every rural community, much more so than in Dublin, make it their business to know who is moving in and out of various places.

Improving the accuracy of the electoral register is a major challenge. Senator Landy referred to using personal public service numbers, PPS, for this purpose. There are approximately 7.4 million PPS numbers compared to approximately 3 million names on the electoral register. One can see immediately what difficulties would arise, particularly in terms of fraud, if one were to use the PPS number system. PPS numbers are not a reliable source of information. While they can help, they are not the be all and end all one might expect.

I agree that an electoral commission is necessary and the programme for Government contains a commitment to establish such a commission. The Government will commence work on this task in 2014 when my Department will give much greater priority to the issue. We had many other priorities recently in respect of the political reform agenda but we will proceed to address this commitment after the local and European elections.

The manager in Waterford city and county will be appointed on a full-time basis. I expect, following the enactment of this legislation, that we will be able to proceed at the earliest suitable time to advertise the post or make an appointment, depending on what the Department decides. I expect an appointment will be made to the role.

The local government Bill will be presented to the Cabinet in September and enacted by the end of the year. The EU boundary report will be available to us in early October. In such a large geographical area, people need time to move around the European Parliament constituencies and make themselves known, regardless of whether they are standing as Independent candidates or for a political party. This requires considerable work and graft on the ground.

I believe I have addressed most of the points raised by Senators whom I thank for responding to this urgent legislation. The purpose of the Bill is to make practical arrangements for various matters that need to be addressed immediately.