Final day to register for Dublin Central and Galway West by-elections

Public urged to check electoral register details before deadline ahead of by-elections in Dublin Central and Galway West constituencies

Two Dáil vacancies will be filled in what are expected to be two hotly contested by-elections. Stock image

Tuesday is the last day to register to vote in the forthcoming by-elections in Dublin Central and Galway West, which are due to take place on May 22.

The Electoral Commission is urging members of the public in those constituencies to check the electoral register to ensure they are registered to vote.

Two Dáil vacancies will be filled in what are expected to be closely contested by-elections.

These are the Galway West seat, which was vacated by President Catherine Connolly, and the Dublin Central seat, vacated by former finance minister Paschal Donohoe, who left to take up a position at the World Bank.

Seventeen candidates are running for the Galway West seat, while 14 are on the ballot for Dublin Central.

Brian Dawson of the Electoral Commission said it takes less than three minutes to get on the register.

“Alongside new voters, what we're really encouraging people to do is to check that your details are up to date. So maybe you've changed address, maybe your citizenship has changed," he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland on Tuesday. 

“It's really important to take less than five minutes today, go on, check your details are correct, because otherwise you could miss out on the opportunity to vote on Friday, May 22.

“There's a constant process of checking and double-checking the electoral register, and indeed there's a modernisation process underway at the moment to make the register as accurate and as modern as possible," Mr Dawson said. 

“Just to be on the safer side, we always encourage people to go on to the website, checktheregister.ie, to make sure your details are correct, and that way when you show up at your polling station in Dublin Central, or Galway West in this case, you can be assured that your name will be there to be crossed off as you collect your ballot," he added. 

Mr Dawson acknowledged difficulties with the system, as there is currently not one national electoral register but 31 registers maintained by local authorities, which can lead to duplication or inaccuracies.

“Each local authority at the moment is trying to check for duplicates, for people who've moved away, and maybe people who've also passed away, and just to make sure that those registers are as accurate as possible.

“But, obviously, human error does occur in certain situations, so what we're asking people to do is just to double-check. We don't want anyone to be surprised on polling day, so take a minute now, go to checktheregister.ie, and make sure your details are up to date," Mr Dawson said. 

The ongoing “clean-up” of the electoral register by local authorities means the number currently eligible to vote is about 103,000 in Galway West and 57,000 in Dublin Central, he added.

“That's a very positive sign of the direction of travel of our electoral registers, that they're becoming more accurate, more precise, and more responsive to people moving in and out of the constituency," Mr Dawson said. 

“So, the figures compared to the recent general election, the electorate has decreased as such, but in reality, that's just an increased level of accuracy, which can only be a good thing," he added.