Govt under siege over unregistered voters

The Government today came under fire over claims that the electoral register in parts of Dublin is up to 90% wrong.

A study of 1,200 homes by the Trinity College Cumann of Fianna Fáil found that up to 17,000 people entitled to vote were not registered.

The survey of the Dublin South East constituency also discovered that 15,000 people who have died or moved from the area were still on the local register.

Minister for the Environment Dick Roche denied the revelations were embarrassing and promised immediate funding to local authorities to update the register.

Opposition parties accused the Government of ignoring problems in this area for the past nine years and called for a radical overhaul of the system.

Mr Roche pledged immediate funds so that local authorities, census enumerators and postmen could call door-to-door to register all those eligible to vote.

Speaking of the funding, Mr Roche said: “That figure will run to millions. This is not a complex job.

“The real perversity of the current situation is that at a time when local authorities are literally awash with money, we find that the register is not getting the attention it should. It’s not rocket science.”

Mr Roche confirmed that his department was in talks with the CSO about employing census enumerators to return to households to record voters as soon as the census is completed.

“We are going to request the enumerators to do the additional work associated with field-checking the voter register,” he said.

If some enumerators are not available, postmen may be asked to assist the operation, he added.

“The question arises why local authorities haven’t been doing this. Frankly, I can’t understand it,” he stated.

Mr Roche said the primary responsibility for the register rests with the local authorities who are mostly controlled by coalitions of opposition parties.

He also claimed it was unacceptable that some councils hadn’t registered new housing estates.

“There is an issue out there for local authorities to get their act into gear,” he added.

One in four voters will be asked for ID at polling stations by clerks at the next General Election.

The department is also carrying out reviews in parts of the country where new residential developments have sprung up.

The draft voting register is issued every November and is published in February.

Mr Roche said he didn’t favour scrapping the current register and launching a public information campaign putting the responsibility on citizens to register themselves.

He would also be urging people to check online if they are registered.

A copy of today’s study into Dublin South East has been forwarded to the City Sheriff.

Fine Gael’s Senator Joe McHugh claimed the electoral register includes 800,000 people who are duplicated, deceased or not entitled to a vote.

The Donegal North East candidate called on Mr Roche to address the serious irregularities: “The one-person one-vote mantra underpins our democratic system and it is imperative it is protected at all costs.

“At the moment, this is not the case, and the present Government is failing on this issue.”

Dublin South East TD Ruairí Quinn criticised the appalling state of the register and admonished Mr Roche for his shocking state of complacency.

“What is at stake here is nothing less than the integrity of our democratic system and the reliability of our electoral process.

"The state of the electoral register has now deteriorated to such an extent that it may be incapable of accurately reflecting the will of the electorate in the general election,” he commented.

Mr Quinn raised the issue in the Dáil last month and Eamon Gilmore has introduced a Private Members Bill that provided for an office of the electoral register commission to be set up.

“This is part of a pattern we are now seeing where the Government parties claim credit for anything that is going well, while always passing the blame on to somebody else for any problems.

“The urgency of the situation cannot be overstated. We are less than 12 months away from an election and unless urgent action is taken the next government will be elected on the most unreliable and inaccurate register in the history of the state,” he added.

Sinn Féin also called for a radical overhaul of the electoral register with an increased emphasis on voter education.

Environment spokesman Arthur Morgan added: “Additional resources need to be put in place for the registration of young people. It is a scandal that so many eligible young voters are not on the register.

“The deficiencies in the register have clearly not been a priority for this Government. I am calling for a radical overhaul of the electoral register to give all potential voters an opportunity to use their vote in the next election.”