John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairperson. The point I was trying to make is very important and valid. Political parties that receive State funding should certainly co-operate with an Oireachtas joint committee. It certainly was not just one party in the singular. A number of parties did not send their general secretaries to the committee for engagement on what I believe is significant legislation.

With regard to the substance of the Bill, it is a very important and a welcome move that we will introduce a statutory electoral commission. The new commission will educate the electorate. It will have a permanent statutory footing to look after the register, albeit that local authorities will still have a role. This is important and will bring a continuity that was not there in the past when we established an electoral commission just for the period of an election or referendum. We will now have continuity with a body in place that will be responsible for elections. It came through crystal clear in the pre-legislative scrutiny that this is needed, particularly as other countries have successfully put in place such electoral commissions.

The pre-registration of those aged 16 and 17 it is a welcome move, as is the move to allow to vote and participate in our democracy those people who for reasons of safety or for whatever reason are not comfortable with having their name on a register in a public forum.

I have a bone of contention with the identification of people on the electoral register. The electoral register we have is not fit for purpose. As Oireachtas Members we all know that if we were to send out a letter to people in a particular area a large number would be returned because those people are gone away, no longer living at the address or not known at the address. The turnout figures for our elections are not accurate. Having a unique identifier such as a PPS number to identify a person and to cross check the register is welcome.

I have some concerns about the existing electoral roll. I know we will try to match people using the existing State apparatus. During pre-legislative scrutiny it was suggested three attempts would be made to contact people before they would be removed from the electoral register. I suggested this should occur within a limited time window because we cannot continue to operate an inaccurate register alongside a register that will be accurate due to linking unique identifiers to it. If we are to carry out this exercise there is merit in doing so within a reasonable time period. It cannot be left to go on ad infinitumwhereby people sit on an electoral register forever just because they are on it at the point in time when the reform is being introduced. We all know how inaccurate our electoral roll is despite the best efforts of staff in local authorities.

The changes being introduced on who will pay for advertising at election time are very important. They will bring transparency to the process. It is certainly something I teased out with the social media companies. Content can be created outside of the State but the button can be clicked in Ireland. Therefore, it needs to meet the advertising guidelines even though people may be employed in another country to all of the work. Trying to capture this is very important. We have strong protections in this State on political donations but we need to strengthen them to make sure money from outside the State is not inadvertently used to influence our elections.

Overall, I welcome the significant Bill. I am sure there will be a number of amendments on Committee and Report Stages and I look forward to debating them in due course. I thank the Minister of State for bringing the Bill to the House.