Does the Senator want to contribute or does he want to formally move the motion?
Registration of Electors (Amendment) Regulations, 1985: Motion.
Senator Loughrey rose.
To move it formally on the basis that I can then contribute.
Acting Chairman
That is not the practice.
I thought——
Acting Chairman
We could proceed the other way round; we could get another Senator to move it formally. If Senator Laughrey wants to say something later on he may.
I move:
That Seanad Éireann approves of the following regulations in draft:
Registration of Electors (Amendment) Regulations, 1985
a copy of which regulations in draft form was laid before Seanad Éireann on the 31st day of July, 1985.
The purpose of these regulations is to make certain technical amendments to the procedures for the registration of electors. These amendments are necessary to enable the provisions of the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1985, which granted the Dáil vote to British citizens, to be given effect. The compilation of the 1986 register of electors is now under way. The draft will be published in December. The new registration arrangements must be reflected in that draft and the making of these regulations will open the way for this.
The draft regulations are being brought before the House in accordance with section 7 of the Electoral Act, 1963 which provides that, where regulations under that section are proposed to be made, a draft thereof shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and the regulations shall not be made until a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by each House.
Section 7 of the Electoral Act, 1963 authorities the Minister for the Environment to make regulations providing for such matters as the procedures to be followed in the registration of persons as electors and the format of the register. Regulations under that section entitled the Registration of Electors and Juries Acts (Specification of Dates) Regulations, 1963 were amended in 1977 to provide for the registration of the category of European Assembly elector. The regulations which are the subject of the present motion will further amend the 1963 regulations to accommodate the additional category of elector provided for by the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1985.
Under the Act, British citizens resident here are now entitled to be registered as Dáil electors. However, they are not eligible to vote at Presidential elections or referenda and this means that they must be distinguished separately from Irish citizens in the register of electors. The Act provides for this by creating a new category called Presidential elector which is to be confined to Irish citizens. The draft regulations are designed to provide for this new category.
As I said at the outset, this is a technical measure and the changes being made are designed to accommodate the new category of Presidential elector within the 1963 regulations. There are no changes of procedure. Accordingly, I do not intend to go through the draft regulations in detail. However, there is one aspect on which I would like to dwell briefly. That is the new lettering system to be used in the register of electors.
As Senators are aware, the different categories of electors are identified in the register by the placing of certain letters opposite their names. At the moment, the letters "LE" are used to identify European Assembly electors, the letter "L" identifies persons from outside the European Community who can vote at local elections only and the letter "P" identifies postal voters. Irish citizens, who alone can vote at all elections and referenda, do not require a distinguishing letter. Under the draft regulations, the letters "L" and "P" will apply to the same categories as before and Irish citizens will not have a distinguishing letter. The letter "E" alone will identify European Assembly electors, who are eligible to vote at both European Assembly and local elections, and the letter "D" will identify persons eligible to vote at Dáil elections as well as at European and local elections. This latter category is, of course, confined to British citizens at this stage.
There is one final point I would like to make. The Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1985 confers on British citizens the right to be registered as Dáil electors. However, whether a person can vote or not at an election depends entirely on being correctly included in the register of electors. I would, therefore, urge registration authorities to be particularly careful in compiling the register this year to ensure that all British citizens are correctly entered. I would also ask all British citizens to be sure to check the draft register when it is published and to make claims for corrections wherever this is called for. In this way, we can ensure that the spirit of the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1985 will be given appropriate practical expression.
I welcome these regulations despite the fact that they are long overdue. They have been promised for a long time, if not by Ministers certainly by politicians in the past. It is incumbent on every State to give to citizens who have been ordinarily resident in that State for a reasonable length of time and who are citizens of other States, the right to choose their elected representatives. We have many British citizens resident, working and contributing to this State. I am sure all politicians — as they have gone from door to door seeking re-election from time to time — have come across many such citizens who were indignant that they were not given the same right as their State had afforded our citizens. Once one emigrates, or goes to live for a short period in England, Scotland or Wales, one is entitled to go on their register in that year without having to wait for any length of time and one is entitled to vote. The Irish vote in Britain has been significant throughout the years. We were lagging behind in not giving British citizens a vote in our State. That is now being rectified and I welcome it.
I am glad to note that the Minister has arranged that when the register of electors, is being compiled — as is the normal practice each year — account will be taken of this new regulation. I hope that it is being done throughout the country, that being the wish of the Government. British citizens resident here will be entitled to vote in Dáil elections as and from 15 April next year when the new register comes into effect.
I often wondered why, with all the electoral amendments we have had throughout the years, there has not been a rethink on the period within which such people may register. At present the register is being compiled. Those people entitled to go in the register are those who were ordinarily resident at a particular address on 15 September last. Their names will appear on the draft register of electors due to be published in all areas on 1 December or the first week in December. A certain time is then allowed to elapse for corrections or for people to check that they are on the register because the onus is on each one of us to ensure that we are registered. Even though the local authorities are charged with the responsibility the main onus is on people themselves to ensure that they are registered. The campaign run by the Department of the Environment through newspaper, radio and television advertisements is, I believe, sufficient to draw people's attention to the fact that they should now be having a look at the register to ensure that their names are correctly listed so that they will be entitled to vote as and from 15 April 1986.
I have often wondered at the wisdom of the particular period in which this enlisting is done. The local authorities are now doing their job and will have the draft register of electors out in the beginning of December. We have the period from 1 December to 15 January to have corrections made and to ensure that we are enlisted. It is one of the busiest periods in the year for people. The Christmas period is a busy time for parents with all the preparation for the festivities of Christmas; and after Christmas is a holiday period.
I ask the Minister to consider if a more appropriate period could be selected to enable people to have a greater opportunity of checking the register and ensuring that they are registered. I do not think that the Christmas holiday, New Year holiday and that busy period in the depth of winter is the most appropriate time for giving everybody the opportunity of being registered. I can instance the case of a man of 76 years of age who went to vote in an election in the early eighties. He found he was not on the register and he could not understand it as he had never been out of the State. If we had a different period perhaps more people would check the register and ensure that they were enlisted. I am not going to delay the House. I am sure the passage of this regulation will be quite swift and I heartily welcome it even at this late stage.
I, too, welcome this motion. It is time that those British citizens had the right to vote in this country. I agree with the previous speaker when he mentioned the particular time of the drawing up of the voters list. I said at a number of meetings of my country council that there could not be a worse time in the year than the month of December and the first weeks in January. That is a time that you cannot get people to check registers. As a member of a political organisation you ask your branches to check it but they do not have meetings around that time. That is one of the reasons why there are so many mistakes in the register. The South Tipperary County Council will work by computer after this year which will be a big improvement. The list of names will be there all the time and all they have to do is to put in additions and take out the names of those who are dead or who have left the area. I appeal to the Minister to do something about this.
Another point I would like to mention is that there are townlands down as addresses which nobody has heard of because they disappeared some years ago when the names were changed. It applies even to very big villages. I know big villages in Tipperary where the name does not appear on the register because there is a name of a townland for one side of the street and another townland for the other side of the street, townlands that were probably there before the village. I cannot understand why these cannot be updated. It also applies to Tipperary town where it is almost impossible to follow a register. I do not know how the postman, when he is trying to deliver election literature, finds the different houses in certain streets, because two houses could have the same numbers just because they are on the same road but according to the most up-to-date figures they have different names. Our registers should be modernised.
I welcome the regulations. It is only right and fitting that somebody who resides in the country and contributes to the economy should be given a right to choose their Government or their public representatives and I have no doubt that they will choose properly. Like the two other speakers I appeal to the Minister to change the time of the revision. As the previous speaker said, it could not be chosen at a more inopportune time. I also ask the Minister to consider changing the method of compiling the register. On 13 March 1985, when the regulations for the postal voting were introduced in this House by the Minister of State, Deputy O'Brien, I spoke of my grave reservations about the methods being adopted in my county. I wrote to an M. Deering of the Minister's Department—
Acting Chairman
Refrain from mentioning officials.
There was no criticism against the official nor will there be. I wrote prior to 17 April but it was acknowledged on 17 April, requesting further details which was replied to on 22 April. I again wrote on 5 September reminding the Minister's Department that they had not replied to my letter of 22 April. I received a letter on 10 September saying that information was requested on 16 July from the local authority involved——
Acting Chairman
I am sorry to interrupt. The regulation we are dealing with concerns giving votes to non-nationals.
It is to see that they are included in the register and I want to ensure the register is compiled properly. I am suggesting methods to the Minister to tighten up lest some of those people he is including in these regulations are omitted.
Acting Chairman
You can make a passing reference.
The Minister referred to the compilation of the 1986 register of electors and asked local registration authorities to be particularly careful in compiling the register to ensure that all British citizens are correctly entered. I would like the Minister to ask registration authorities to ensure that all citizens who are entitled to be registered are correctly entered and, which is just as important, that those who are not entitled to be entered are not entered.
When our citizens went abroad to England, Scotland or Wales they were privileged to be included immediately to have the right to vote there. I do not want to deprive any Irish citizens of a right to vote while they are resident in Ireland but when not resident in Ireland — I am afraid that those who compile the registers, rate collectors particularly, do not emphasise this enough — when not normally resident in Ireland on 15 September they are not entitled to be on that register.
I heard of a case last year, I drew it to the attention of this House on 13 March and I draw it to the attention of this House again, without naming any names or going into any detail, where a county registrar overruled an appeal to be left on the register in one year and the rate collector compiling the register for the same area in the ensuing year included the same persons. The Minister's Department were made aware of this in April last year and despite their appeals to my county council permission has not been granted. I am asking the Minister again to ask his officials to ask Donegal County Council and, if necessary, to direct Donegal County Council, to supply the information requested by his Department. If we lose confidence in those who compile our registers, of if they lose confidence in us there is always the suggestion that there is political interference in the compilation of registers. These accusations have been made in the past and they are likely to continue unless these type of loopholes are closed.
I do not think that the present method of compiling a register is the proper method. The present method appears to be that the rate collector involved examines the register in existence and deletes and adds accordingly. There are obvious deletions but those not so obvious include emigration, leaving an area or moving to an area. I do not know what the perfect answer is but I know that the present system is imperfect. People can be omitted from one register simply because they move and are not entered in the other register area to which they move, perhaps because one rate collector is doing his job properly and another is not. Perhaps a registrar is over-zealous with regard to political undertones. The result can be that the particular elector may not have a vote at all. The opposite can happen where a person is not excluded from one but is reincluded in another and has two votes. He or she may not exercise both votes, he or she may exercise one but somebody else might exercise the other vote, as happens often in big towns. I thank the Acting Cathaoirleach for his indulgence. Would the Cathaoirleach like me to start all over again?
No, it is hard enough to keep you on the rails.
Has the Minister or his Department any function in relation to the job of county registrar? Could he nod or shake his head as the case may be? I take it that he has not. I have had grave difficulty where firm decisions were arrived at in revision courts in my county and it was publicly indicated to public representatives who were present what way those decisions were taken, but clearly not abided by. I wrote on 13 May 1985 to the county registrar in my home county and on 26 September I received the following letter:
The position is as I have already set out in previous correspondence.
Yours sincerely.
I do not believe any public representative should be treated like that by any official and certainly not in the exercise of his duty on behalf of his electors at any level, at any time or any place, from town commissioner up to President. To be treated in this manner is an insult, not just to me but to the people I represent. I ask the Minister's advice on this matter. I have acted in the only two ways that I know and I have been in touch with the Department and with the office of the county registrar in April, or possibly May in one instance, and I have yet to get satisfaction in either regard.
I support the sentiments of my two colleagues when they ask for a change of the time of the compilation of the register. I suggest that it should end some time in the beginning of December. It should change in the period from August to December which would be far more suitable. I hope that the Minister will investigate the cases about which I have written to his Department and which I now raise in this House.
I should like to thank the Senators who contributed and who welcomed the passage of this motion. This is the last step in the process which began several years ago to grant all new rights to British citizens who were resident here. In the meantime we have seen a Bill rejected by the courts. We had the constitutional amendment and earlier this summer we had the Electoral (Amendment) Act. When these regulations are made the whole machinery to enable British citizens to vote in Dáil elections will be in place and they will be able to exercise that right with effect from the 1986 register of electors.
I would like to deal briefly with a number of the points raised by Senators. All Senators raise the timing of the compilation of the register. Senators McMahon, O'Brien and Loughrey suggested that the period for compiling the register should be altered and this is a point which I certainly will consider. However, I would like to point out that most elections are held during the summer months and our concern is to have an up-to-date register available for that period and this is why the register is compiled between September and April. Senators may think that Dáil elections are always held in the winter but local elections are held in the summer months and that means that most elections generally fall around that period. It is a fairly lengthy period to allow people to register their names, from September to April. One Senator said we were all busy at Christmas. The purpose of the first Christmas was to register people for elections, back 2,000 years ago and people had to travel to various centres in that part of the Middle East. We only require people now to fill in a form if necessary or to see their local rate collectors who generally do the registration.
It is often a problem when people only seem to become interested in being registered for an election on the day of an election or a week beforehand when political parties are doing their rounds in the campaign. Then we are all blamed because somebody has forgotten to put them on or they have forgotten to check their names on the register of electors. Now is the time when everybody who wants to be sure that he or she is on the electoral register should contact the town hall or the county council office, or, indeed, their post office to see if they are already on the register and, if not, to take the necessary action. I will certainly look at the situation to see if this is the best period in which this procedure should take place.
The accuracy of the register was raised by Senator Loughrey who mentioned an inaccuracy in County Donegal. The law is quite clear as to who is entitled to be registered. Only persons normally resident in a constituency on 15 September of the previous year are entitled to be registered as electors in that constituency. Obviously, the registration authority do their best to ensure that only eligible persons are registered but they must rely on information supplied to rate collectors by householders. They will normally accept that information at face value in the absence of evidence to the contrary. If anybody wishes to have errors in the register corrected, he is entitled to make claims for correction to the registering authority. The final decision then rests with the county registrar who adjudicates on all claims and I have no function in this matter. There is of course the option of recourse to the Circuit Court if these various checks and balances do not meet the needs of the voter.
Senator Willie Ryan raised the question of addresses of towns and villages being shown on the register, some of them with outdated townland names. The question of what address should be used is a matter for the registration authority in the first instance. However, I will make note of what Senator Ryan said and I will ask the registration authority to ensure that up-to-date addresses are used. I and every Senator and Deputy who has campaigned in an election will have sympathy for people trying to follow registers, particularly in rural areas. Even the people living in those areas do not realise that some of their addresses are referred to under some other name. In a little village in my own constituency, called Ashford, there is only one house and yet the 1,000 citizens who live in the vicinity have the postal address of Ashford, although only the Garda barracks is in the townland of Ashford.
The motion before us has been welcomed on all sides of the House and this reflects what has happened in the Dáil. We all agree that this is long over-due. I am delighted that I have had the opportunity to introduce this legislation to allow people, who have contributed to the country, over many years in various ways to vote in national elections. I thank the Senators for their contributions.
Question put and agreed to.