Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 May 2015
535. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will report on current methods for checking and confirming the electoral register; the measures open to citizens who feel that they were unjustly removed from the register; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17444/15]
View answerIn law, the preparation of the Register of Electors is a matter for each local authority as a 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. This involves the carrying out of house-to-house or other local enquiries, including in many cases delivering registration forms to households for completion.
The draft register is published on 1 November each year and is generally available for examination at post offices, Garda stations and local authority offices and on-line at www.checktheregister.ie up to 25 November. The public are invited through national and local advertising campaigns to check the draft during this period to make sure that they are correctly registered and to bring errors or omissions in the draft to the attention of the local authority. Any person wishing to correct their details on the register may do so by completing form RFA1, which is available from registration authorities or to download from www.checktheregister.ie.
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. The final register is published on 1 February and comes into force on 15 February that year until 14 February in the following year.
Eligible voters not included in the register of electors can apply to their local authority for inclusion in the supplement to the register up until 15 days (not including Sundays, Good Friday or Public Holidays) before polling day at a particular election or referendum.
