Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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608. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will address concerns raised in correspondence (details supplied) regarding voter irregularities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29675/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Local authorities are responsible for the preparation and publication of the register of electors in their areas. Under section 11(3) of the Electoral Act 1992, a person shall be deemed not to have given up ordinary residence if they intend to resume residence within eighteen months after giving it up and a written statement by a person that he intends to resume residence within eighteen months after giving it up shall, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, be accepted as a correct statement.

Local authorities have a range of powers of investigation when compiling the register of electors for their areas. For example, Rule 5(1) of the Second Schedule to the Electoral Act 1992 provides that a local authority shall make a house to house or other sufficient enquiry in their registration area when preparing the register.

Under Rule 5(3) of the Schedule they may require a person to give any information they have which may be needed in compiling the register. Where a local authority is of the view that someone on the register may no longer be resident at a particular address, they can initiate a process for removing the person from the register. Section 133 of the Electoral Act 1992 provides that any person who refuses to give a local authority the information it seeks in order to carry out its registration functions or who knowingly gives false information to the authority shall be guilty of an offence.

Rule 5(6) of the Second Schedule to the Electoral Act 1992 requires the local authority to publish the draft register on or before 1 November annually. This provides an opportunity for members of the public to advise their local authorities about people they consider to be wrongly included in the register.

In addition, there is a responsibility on each individual who votes to ensure that they are entitled to do so. Under section 149 of the Electoral Act 1992 (as applied to referendums under section 6 of the Referendum Act 1994), a person who is included in a register of electors that is currently in force but who is not entitled to be included in the register shall be guilty of an offence if they vote.

A person presenting at a polling station has a right under section 111(3) of the Electoral Act 1992 (as applied to referendums under section 32 of the Referendum Act 1994) to vote if they are included in the register of electors. However, section 111(4) of the 1992 Act provides that the right to vote under section 111(3) does not entitle any person to vote who is not entitled to do so and does not relieve that person from any penalties for which they may be liable.

Enforcement of electoral law is a matter for the Garda and anyone suspecting that fraud or other electoral offences have been committed in the conduct of a referendum may bring these matters to their attention. In addition, provision is made in Part IV of the Referendum Act 1994 for the submission of a referendum petition to the High Court in circumstances where there are grounds for believing that the result of a referendum was affected materially by the commission of an offence referred to in Part XXII of the Electoral Act 1992.

Suggestions made in the correspondence about implementation of provisions relating to voters who are temporarily absent from the State would require amendments to the law. Government recently agreed that work should commence on modernisation of the electoral register, in the context of facilitating the registration of voters resident outside the State, in the event of an extension of the franchise at Presidential elections being approved by the people in a referendum. All aspects of voter registration, including the legal provisions, will be reviewed as part of this project.