Calls for database to stop people being taken off the voting register

The chief executive of Cork County Council says a national database of electoral registers should be set up to ensure people are not denied a vote.

Tim Lucey made the comment after several councillors gave examples of how constituents found themselves taken off the register for no apparent reason.

A lengthy debate on the issue was sparked in County Hall yesterday after Sinn Féin councillor Melissa Mullane asked for a report on the local register and was told that around 11,000 people were removed from it in the past 12 months.