Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 10 Oct 2002

Vol. 555 No. 1

Written Answers. - Register of Electors.

Bernard Allen

Question:

224 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the position regarding people who are taken off the register of electors; the person who has the authority to remove names from the register; if they have to be informed in writing if their names are removed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17603/02]

Minister for the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Cullen)

The compilation and publication of the register of electors is a matter for each registration authority in accordance with electoral law. Register details are updated in preparation for the publication of the draft register on 1 November each year and as part of this process authorities are required to send a notice to a person, whose name it is proposed to omit from the draft register, indicating that they have failed to establish that the person is still resident at the address and unless evidence to the contrary is provided within ten days, his or her name will be removed.

Any person may claim to have a correction made to the draft register following its publication. The claim must be made to the registration authority by 25 November and it may include, in particular, a claim to have the name of a person added or deleted. Such claims are ruled on, in public, by the appropriate county registrar and interested parties must be given notice of the time and location of the proposed hearing. An appeal may be made in the Circuit Court against the decision of a county registrar.

When the final register comes into force, a person's name can be removed only if he or she has applied successfully for entry on the supplement to the register as a result of a change of residence, which can be in the constituency or in another constituency. In such cases, the person's name on the register in respect of his or her previous address is deleted and he or she is registered at his or her new address.