Roche rushes to act over voter register criticism

ENVIRONMENT Minister Dick Roche will attend a hastily convened meeting of a backbench committee on Monday to discuss criticisms of his efforts to update the electoral register.

Mr Roche yesterday asked the All-Party Committee on the Environment to meet him this morning to discuss his controversial reforms amid claims that as many as half a million voters may have been inadvertently struck off in the draft register for 2007-2008. However, the meeting could not be arranged at such short notice. It will instead take place on Monday at noon.

Mr Roche wanted an early meeting as he will be abroad next week, attending a UN conference on climate change in Nairobi, Kenya.

Acknowledging the urgency of the matter, he said the electoral register is a “political priority which transcends party politics”.

Committee chairman Sean Haughey said last night that its members would seek an extension of the November 25 deadline for registration to allow voters sufficient time to check if their names were on the register.

He said the consensus was that an extra month be allowed, but conceded this might require new legislation. Tánaiste Michael McDowell said yesterday the Government had no plans to introduce such legislation.

The announcement came as a second Labour TD revealed his name had been removed from the register.

Labour’s chief whip Emmet Stagg told the Dáil he checked the draft register for Kildare to discover that not only had his name been removed, but also the names of his entire family. He said: “I am not paranoid but that does not mean they are not out to get me.”

A day earlier, Kildare South TD Jack Wall revealed he was removed from the register, despite filling in the form and giving it to a local collector. Mr Wall has lived at the same address for over 30 years.

Kildare County Council said it had removed Mr Wall’s name from the register by mistake but Mr Stagg’s name was still on the register, although his address had been put into the wrong townland in error.

The Government decided to update the register ahead of next year’s elections after revelations that it may contain 800,000 names too many. But evidence has emerged in recent weeks that the names of as many as 500,000 valid voters may now have been removed.