Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 588: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will introduce voter validation for all voters voting on independent university panels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19052/07]

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 590: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps he will take to ensure that the current registers of electors for the Seanad university panels is up to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19054/07]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 588 and 590 together.

The Seanad Electoral (University Members) Act 1937, as amended, provides the procedure for the election of the 6 University Senators, using proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. Elections are held by secret postal ballot and all valid ballot papers must be accompanied by a signed and witnessed declaration of identity.

Under Section 9 of the 1937 Act, the registration officer for each of the university constituencies is appointed and paid by the appropriate university governing body and is responsible for the maintenance and annual revision of the register of electors. The Electoral Amendment Act 2001 provided improved powers to university constituency registration officers to revise and update the registers, which has resulted in greater accuracy of the university constituencies' registers of electors. However, the registration officers still depend to a significant degree on the co-operation of the public in order to maintain the registers.