Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 75: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he has plans to introduce a scheme of automatic voter registration for persons reaching their 18th birthday; his views on whether such a scheme would be desirable; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11019/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The compilation and publication of the register is a matter for each registration authority in accordance with electoral law and involves the carrying out of house-to-house or other local inquiries, including in many cases delivering registration forms to households for completion. The draft register is published on 1 November each year and is made available for examination at post offices, public libraries, Garda stations, courthouses and local authority offices up to 25 November. The final register is published on 1 February and comes into force for a year on 15 February.

Each year, my Department undertakes an advertising campaign to coincide with the publication of the draft register to encourage electors to check the draft and ensure that they are correctly registered. Over the past number of years, the advertising campaign has included initiatives specifically targeted at young people.

Students who live away from home while attending college have the choice of being registered at their parents' address or their student residential address. Students pursuing a course of study on a full-time basis at an educational institution in the State, who are registered and living away from home and cannot attend their polling station, may apply for entry in the postal voters list.

Under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2001, the grounds for making application for entry in the supplement to the register of electors were widened to allow, inter alia, a person who has reached 18 years of age on or before polling day to apply for entry in the supplement to the register; previously, the cut-off point was the closing date for the supplement.

While the accuracy of the electoral register depends to a significant extent on the co-operation and engagement of the individual citizen, I will keep under review the scope for further initiatives to help registration authorities to identify and target young people in this regard.