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Minister for the Environment, Heritage
and Local Government (Mr. Roche):
In law, the preparation of the Register of Electors is a matter for each
local registration authority. It is their duty to ensure, as far as
possible and with the cooperation of the public, the accuracy and
comprehensiveness of the Register. Local authorities must publish the
draft Register on or before 1 November each year and they must publish
the final Register on 1 February.
In April 2006, I announced a package of measures to assist local
authorities in their work on preparing the 2007/8 Register, which
included the use of Census enumerators or other temporary personnel to
support local authorities in preparing the next Register. The CSO
contacted Census enumerators seeking expressions of interest in the
work; lists of enumerators expressing such an interest in each city and
county council area were made available to local authorities. This
cleared the way for recruitment and deployment, as appropriate, by local
authorities of additional temporary staff for the registration campaign.
In addition, my Department worked with a group of local authority
managers and senior officials to put in place an enhanced programme for
improving the next Register. Detailed procedures for the carrying out of
registration fieldwork were finalised and issued to local authorities in
early July. The procedures included provision for ensuring that each
household was visited and provided with forms and information at least
twice, if necessary. In the event that this process did not
satisfactorily register the household, written notification would then
be given cautioning of the danger of being omitted from the Register. A
person not on the draft register may apply (before 25 November) for
inclusion on the final register to be published on 1 February 2007, or
may apply for inclusion on the supplement to the register which closes
on the fifteenth day before the next polling day.
New supplies of the electoral registration (RFA) forms were distributed
to all local authorities in June (significantly earlier than in previous
years).
I also committed to providing additional ring-fenced financial resources
to support local authorities’ own spending in respect of the register
campaign and advised authorities that a contribution of some €6 million
can be made available in this regard. An initial allocation of some €3
million, based on the number of households in each local authority area,
was made available in July to local authorities for registration work.
As regards publicity and awareness, a two-stage approach has been
developed, involving information notices followed by an intensive media
campaign. Information notices were published in the national press on
19–21 August, urging co-operation with local register campaigns. In
addition, a national publicity and awareness campaign involving TV,
radio, press and outdoor advertising commenced on 11 September and will
run until 25 November (the closing date for submitting corrections to
the Draft Register).
An online register search facility is now available through local
authority websites and a central website www.checktheregister.ie is also
now available, containing direct links to each local authority’s eReg
enquiry screen, to facilitate people in checking that they are on the
Draft Register.
New arrangements for the deletion of names of deceased persons from the
Register are now in place: the new system allows for the efficient and
timely deletion of the names of deceased persons from the Register using
the Death Event Publication Service which has been developed by Reach in
association with the General Register Office.
New guidance for local authorities on Preparing and Maintaining the
Register of Electors was made available to authorities in electronic
format on 31 May. Printed copies of the guidance were subsequently sent
to all local authorities, returning officers and relevant Government
Departments. In the final version of the guidance, the importance of
local authorities cross-checking the Register with other databases
available to them is stressed.
It is internationally acknowledged that electoral registration presents
particular difficulties and challenges for electoral authorities. I am
satisfied that local authorities have carried out the most extensive
registration campaign in decades for the Draft Register 2007/8. My
Department is currently compiling summary data from local authorities in
this regard. While the complete data are awaited, initial indications
are that there has been extensive activity with both significant
additions to, and deletions from, the Register.
I have no proposals to change the title of the Register at this stage. |
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