Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 583: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps he has taken to ensure that prisoners are aware of their entitlement to vote; the procedures in place in prisons to assist in the registration of prisoners; the number of prisoners who have filled in the new registration forms for a postal vote in each of the prisons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3791/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2006, enacted in December 206 provides for postal voting facilities for prisoners.

Detailed guidance and application forms in this regard were issued by my Department to all registration authorities on 11 January 2007, including guidance on implementation of the statutory requirement on authorities to give public notice of the new facilities during the period from 19 to 26 January; as part of this process, application forms with accompanying explanatory notes have been made available in all prisons. This material also issued to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform for transmission to the Prison Service who are responsible for practical implementation of the new arrangements within the prisons, including the designation of relevant officials to perform specified functions in the registration and voting processes. In addition, to ensure that the new arrangements were publicised as widely as possible, my Department placed prominent advertisements in the main national newspapers on four dates in advance of the public notice period: on Saturday and Sunday 13 and 14 January and on Wednesday and Thursday 17 and 18 January.

The latest date for receipt of applications for inclusion on the 2007/2008 prisoners postal voters list is 14 February 2007. Registration authorities are responsible for compiling the register of electors and they will notify prisoners of decisions on applications when they have been fully considered. Details of the numbers of prisoners on the 2007/2008 postal voters list will be available in due course.