Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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669. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 622 of 13 November 2018, if online voter registration will be extended to the Seanad Éireann registers of electors maintained by the National University of Ireland and the University of Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48335/18]

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Electoral law provides that the preparation of the register of electors is a matter for each local registration authority.  It is their duty to ensure, as far as possible and with the cooperation of the public, the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the Register. In March 2017 the Government determined that work should commence on modernisation of the voter registration process in the context of the possible need to register voters resident outside the State in the event that a referendum on extending the franchise in Presidential elections is passed. 

The register of electors maintained by local authorities is separate to the Seanad register of electors, The Seanad Electoral (University Members) Act 1937 provides that the governing body of every university which is a university constituency shall cause a register of electors to be kept in accordance with the 1937 Act. The National University of Ireland and the University of Dublin are therefore responsible for their respective electoral registers in accordance with the rules set out in the First Schedule of that Act. 

The Programme for a Partnership Government includes a goal to pursue the implementation of the Manning Report, formally known as the Report of the Working Group on Seanad Reform. That report makes recommendations to restructure and reform the Seanad.

In April 2018, the Taoiseach established an Implementation Group on Seanad Reform to consider the Manning report and to develop specific proposals to legislate for Seanad Reform.  The Implementation Group comprises Members of the Oireachtas with the assistance of outside experts, as appropriate. The Group held its first meeting on 9 May 2018 and is to report back shortly, with the text of a Bill. 

The reform of the Seanad, including any reform of the Seanad register of electors, is to be further considered in the context of the work of the Implementation Group.