Vol. 92 No. 12
I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £10 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1944, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Stationery Office; for Stationery, Printing, Paper, Binding, and Printed Books for the Public Service; and for sundry Miscellaneous Services, including Reports of Oireachtas Debates.
The sum required, as has been indicated, is £10. The total excess on the Vote was £10,000, and this has been met by additional Appropriations-in-Aid to the extent of £9,110 and savings on other sub-heads to the extent of £880, leaving £10 to be accounted for. The excess arises as a result of the additional work on the register last year because of the holding of the general election.
Has the Parliamentary Secretary satisfied himself that the necessary precautions have been taken to see that everybody is registered? There was a good deal of dissatisfaction expressed at the last general election by the Deputy's own Party and by other Parties.
That is obviously a matter for the Department of Local Government.
Is there not money in this Supplementary Estimate in respect of the preparation of the register?
I would like to be able to help the Deputy in this connection——
I am keenly interested in this matter, in view of certain things that happened throughout the country.
I have no responsibility for it, I am sorry to say.
I am not saying that the Parliamentary Secretary is responsible. I am asking if he is satisfied that the necessary precautions were taken.
As far as I know, yes.
May I point out that there have been complaints about the registers, and one of the reasons possibly is that the ordinary citizens overlook their rights completely. There is a provision in the Electoral Act, 1923, which provides that, where a person is entitled to have a vote and is left off the register, he can sue everybody from the rate collector, whose job it is, up, in the District Court to recover a sum not exceeding £100. If some of the people were to adopt that practice, the registers would be all right.
The lawyers are very expensive.
I shall not allow the Parliamentary Secretary to get back on me in that way. It is not a lawyer's job. There is provision for a summary prosecution in the District Court under the Electoral Act.
I tried that remedy myself and I was fearful of it.
