asked the Minister for Local Government what steps are being taken by local authorities to ensure that form E.B.1 in connection with the registration of electors is delivered to each household in the State.
37.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Registration of Electors.
36.
asked the Minister for Local Government if in view of the fact that many persons were deprived of a vote in the recent referendum because they had not been included in the Register of Electors, and since local elections will be held next year, he will instruct all local authorities to take steps to ensure that no person entitled to vote will be omitted from next year's register.
I propose with your permission, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, to take Questions Nos. 36 and 37 together. The attention of all registration officers has been drawn to the fact that local elections are due to be held in 1960 and special instructions have been issued to them to ensure that the register is compiled with the greatest possible degree of accuracy so that there will be no reasonable grounds for complaints such as are sometimes made, especially after elections, about errors and omissions.
It has been left to the discretion of each registration officer to decide whether or not to distribute the forms E.B.1 to each householder as experience has shown that an indiscriminate distribution does not bring about any commensurate improvement. It has, however, been suggested to them that the forms might be distributed in all towns and other areas where the rate collector is not likely to know precisely who are the residents in each household.
There is no firm instruction to the effect that form E.B.1 should be delivered to each house?
No. It has been left to the discretion of each registration officer whether to distribute it or not.
The Minister must realise the importance of the compilation of a register. I am sure he realises also that in recent times many thousands of electors have been left off the electoral list. I believe the Minister for Local Government and the Government should try to make certain that every voter in the country is included on this register. That has not been done in the past.
The Minister referred to "registration officer" and "rate collector". Would the Minister say if the registration officer is the county registrar and if the rate collector is the person in every constituency who is responsible for the actual assembly of the information?
Yes.
That is not so.
Wait.
The Minister is inaccurate, as usual.
I misunderstood the Deputy's question. Would he be good enough to repeat it?
The first part of the question was the Minister's reference to the registration officer. Does that mean the county registrar?
In some cases.
That is safe.
Would the Minister be able to differentiate between the different types of cases there are?
No. I think I should have notice of that.
Would the Minister say if the rate collector is the person responsible in all constituencies for the assembly of the information?
No, not in all.
Could the Minister differentiate between the different constituencies——
The Deputy should give me notice of that question.