Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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117. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he has reviewed the findings of the recent report on the Electoral Register; if he acknowledges the ongoing problems with accuracy, transparency, and public confidence in the register; and the specific reforms he believes are urgently needed to ensure the integrity and accessibility of the electoral system. [24160/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Local authorities, in their capacity as registration authorities, are responsible for the management and maintenance of the electoral register. It is the duty of each authority to ensure, as far as possible, and with the cooperation of the public, the accuracy and completeness of the Register in respect of its own administrative area.

The Electoral Reform Act 2022 provided for significant changes to streamline and modernise the electoral registration process. These changes, supported by awareness raising have already delivered substantial progress in relation to data quality - almost 1 in 5 entries on the register have been recently updated and have an associated PPSN which means those entries have been checked and confirmed. 72% of entries now have a date of birth and 73% an Eircode; and over half of registered electors have both.

The recently published first annual report on the electoral register by An Coimisiún Toghcháin, is a welcome new addition to the electoral landscape.

In it, An Comisiún recognises the enormous amount of work carried out by local authority franchise staff in implementing the provisions of the Electoral Reform Act 2022. The report also puts forward constructive proposals to address the legacy issues around register data including accuracy in particular. These issues are being addressed.

It is important however, to be clear that while the Commission notes that these issues have the potential to undermine public confidence, it states that it "does not believe that the integrity of our electoral events has been impacted by these inaccuracies".

Addressing accuracy is however a crticial and urgent task and I am committed to supporting local authorities in that work, building on the significant reforms delivered to date. Two key actions already underway include:

- Dublin City Council with the support of my Department, is developing a national shared electoral registration system for all Local Authorities to use – this system, which will be operational across the Sector by end-2026 will enable Local Authorities to check data at national level, will integrate the death events service, and will streamline administration of the register within a modern and highly secure architecture;

- I have made funding of over €3m available to Local Authorities in 2025 alone to support the significant data quality work they are doing to prepare for migration to the new system including standardisation, translation and the management of duplicates and deceased electors. This builds on funding in 2023 and 2024 to support data quality work and also provides each Local Authority with two additional staff members to undertake this task.

This extra funding is part of a renewed commitment under the Programme for Government 2025 – Securing Irelands Future and will support a detailed plan for Local Authorities to improve electoral register data over the next 18 months.

In addition, the engagement of the public will be critical. Every eligible elector is responsible for ensuring that they are correctly registered and to update their details when needed – it’s never been easier and can be done up via a simple online process through either checktheregister.ie or Voter.ie.

All of the proposals in the the report will be fully considered by my Department in the context of planning further work.