Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State back to the House, a place with which he is familiar. He has discussed this topic numerous times. He has a depth of experience from local authority level, the Seanad, the Dáil and his current role as Minister of State that he will use it to steer these necessary reforms through his Department and the Oireachtas. The reforms will improve and enhance the integrity of the electoral system. In a democracy, the fundamental franchise of the vote is critical, so we should recognise that there are areas in which we could have done better if we were to have a modern electoral system that had the confidence of the Irish people. For this reason, I welcome the inclusion of an electoral commission's establishment in the programme for Government.

Consultation has already taken place on the commission's design and structure, how it should work and its responsibilities over the management of elections and referendums. The commission should also be involved in ensuring that the information made available to our citizens in a referendum is distributed in a robust, fair and objective way. Issues of political funding and expenditure and how parties are registered also need examination and, where necessary, reform.

Will the Minister of State clarify the situation regarding the modernisation of the electoral register? For years, local authorities have been charged with keeping the register up to date. While the majority of people exercise their franchise, there have been instances of people who, when going to vote, discover that they have been removed from the register unbeknownst to themselves. It is one of the worst things to witness. I have seen such people being turned away from their local polling booths many times. They are devastated. We must devise a structure that eliminates this mistake.

The Minister of State might clarify whether modernisation entails continuing with local authorities as the bodies that are charged with keeping the register up to date or giving responsibility to the new commission. How will it work? Speaking as a representative, I am open to it lying with the commission just so long as the situation improves. We are utilising outdated mechanisms to keep our electoral register up to date. Reform of the voter registration system is necessary and new technologies and methods of identifying people should be utilised. There are many ways to do this that would ensure the requisite levels of confidence and integrity.

We must do away with duplication and inaccuracies. When people die, many remain on the electoral register for years. That is unacceptable. To be honest, when we as politicians write to people using information contained in the register, we find out that some of them have, unfortunately, passed away. It is not a nice thing to happen.

A number of agencies have electoral responsibilities. Local authorities are over the electoral register. The courts, through registrars, and the nomination process for elections and referendums also play a part.As the Minister of State has said, the Standards in Public Office Commission also plays a part in the areas of regulation and standards. With a new commission there are opportunities to streamline all of these areas to bring them under one area of responsibility. I suggest it has the teeth to act because there is no point in establishing an electoral commission unless it has the powers and the sanctions to enforce what it is we want to achieve. I ask the Minister of State to elaborate on that and to explain what his plans are in that area.

I remember years ago as a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht visiting the electoral offices in the North or Ireland. We could learn from our neighbours in the North of Ireland about how they managed to improve the integrity of the electoral registers. There were issues in the past in Northern Ireland, which are on record, whereby the voting system, unfortunately, was abused. They now have a very successful system to ensure integrity and confidence in that process. There is a lot of work still to be done. We should always evaluate all systems in our Departments but this area is in the interests of integrity, confidence, public awareness and education on voting rights, Much work has been done in schools with various civic educational programmes, and I am aware that many politicians visit schools to try to enhance that experience. It is very important that we educate the next generation on the franchise to vote, on what it means in terms of a democracy, on what it means for local, national, regional and European politics, and on what it means for the fundamental constitutionalism in the State through referendums. We need to continue enforcing that idea.

I am not being ageist, and I know colleagues will say this, but I have always found that older people have put a lot of emphasis on the vote. In my community and household when I was growing up I was always told about the importance and the significance of the vote. I sometimes fear that, given the tough years Ireland has been through, politics has suffered and, as a result, democracy has suffered. There is possibly less respect now for the politician and less respect for the vote. In the interests of democracy we need to reclaim that ground. Leaving aside party politics and all policies, we need to educate our young people on the importance and the significance of the vote. The reform of the electoral system and the establishment of an electoral commission is an ideal opportunity for the Minister and for us as colleagues to promote the idea that the vote is critical and fundamental in a democracy. I look forward to the improvement that will be made in this area.