Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree that if at all possible, we should try to get a timeframe on it. It is difficult to do. It might be a case of coming back with recommendations to do this step by step. There are easier paths to doing this. Extending it to the full option of 70 million people when we do not even know how many of them could be citizens would be an awkward process to develop. It is about coming back with different answers and to try to move it on. We also have a lot of work to do to get our current register of electors up to date for both Dáil and local authority elections. It is not completely out of date, but we all come across a lot of problems with it on a daily basis. The first phase of any work is to get that in order while looking then at all the options.The Department is working hard and we have meetings scheduled during August to try to get a handle on the timeframes involved. It probably means that a decision will have to be made to allocate more staff and resources, but the work has begun. Whether it needs to be fast-tracked will need to be decided. These are the discussions we are having. I will be able to update the Senator in the autumn. The matter is not being put on the long finger.