Gerard Murphy (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 542: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will make a statement on the fact that many young people are being knocked off the voters register if they stay a number of nights in a city or large town where they work to avoid commuting for long hours but come home each weekend or on other days off, in view of the fact that these young people regard their permanent address as home and have no social or cultural attachment to the area where they work. [37804/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The compilation and publication of the register of electors is a matter for each local registration authority in accordance with electoral law. While I have put in place a programme of measures to assist and support local authorities in their registration work, it is the duty of local authorities to ensure as far as possible the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the register; in carrying out this work, local authorities depend to a significant degree on the cooperation and engagement of the general public.

Section 8 of the Electoral Act 1992 states that to be eligible for registration as a Dáil elector a person must be ordinarily resident in a constituency on the qualifying date (1 September in the year preceding the year in which the Register comes into force). Section 11 of the Act places a prohibition on a person being registered as an elector more than once in any registration area or in more than one registration area.

Long standing guidance from my Department suggests that students be given the option of being registered at their parents' home or at the students' residential address. While the guidance further suggests that persons who normally return to their parents' home at the weekends and for holidays should be registered where they live for work purposes, the determination of ordinary residence is a matter for decision by the local authority (or the County Registrar in the case of a claim) in the light of the circumstances of each particular case.