John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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501. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the steps he is taking to ensure that the electoral register is maintained in an updated manner; the evidence he has that suggests it is up to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57384/25]

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 – in June 2025 the local government sector reported that almost 1 in 5 entries on the register had been updated and have an associated PPSN which means those entries have been checked and confirmed. 73% of entries had a date of birth and 71% an Eircode; and over half of registered electors have both.

An Coimisiún Toghcháin, published its first annual report on the electoral registers in May 2025. 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 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.