I take it that it is in order to comment on what the Minister has said with regard to votes at 18. The responsibility at present is not the responsibility of the university authorities. It is the responsibility of the individual graduates. On graduation they are given a form by the university with the instruction that, if they want to register as voters on the university panel, they have to sign this form and return it. Upwards of 50 per cent have not done this, but it can be done at any stage afterwards if the graduate writes in simply requesting a vote. I am now officially drawing the attention of the Minister to the fact that there is grave dissatisfaction with the rather haphazard nature of this type of selection which, as I say, depends on the individual graduate. It would be far more satisfactory if a graduate were put on the register automatically on receiving his degree.
I suggest to the Minister on behalf of the university constituencies—I speak for the NUI and Professor Jessop will be able to corroborate it for TCD—that we would like to see this regularised. Of course, the difficulty of keeping in touch with graduates' addresses is an enormous one and, in the circumstances, it is rather remarkable that almost 50 per cent vote despite the obviously very inadequate list of addresses available. That is not the fault of convocation or any other group. The task is almost an impossible one.
