The Cabinet is considering dispatching census enumerators back into the field to compile an accurate electoral register after they have gathered the census forms that are due to be filled in tomorrow. Stephen Collins, Political Correspondent, reports.
The Taoiseach and his ministers have discussed ways of tackling the massive inaccuracies in the current electoral register in the light of growing concerns about possible widespread irregularities, including fraud, at the next election.
It was not legally possible to get the census enumerators to compile the electoral register in tandem with the census, due to the confidentiality of the census process.
The growing concern at the state of the electoral register will be debated today at the annual conference of the Progressive Democrats in Limerick. A motion from Dún Laoghaire TD Fiona O'Malley calls on Minister for the Environment Dick Roche to address "the alarming inaccuracies" in the register by introducing a new system based on PPS numbers.
The problem facing the Government is that action will have to be taken quickly if an accurate register is to be compiled in time for the next election. The census enumerators would supply a ready-made team to deal with this.
Estimates of the scale of inaccuracy on the register vary but it appears that a minimum of 300,000 more people are on it than are eligible to vote, while one informed estimate put the figure as high as 860,000.
One aspect of the problem is that individuals are frequently registered at a number of addresses.
Legally they can only vote once but with ID requirements very loose, there is little to prevent people voting a number of times.
The outdated register also contains the names of a considerable number of people who have died.
A lack of scrutiny at polling stations is contributing to the problem. In the past the political parties manned virtually every station and party officers challenged people whom they believed were illegal voters. With the numbers involved in active politics declining, that level of scrutiny is a thing of the past.
Politicians in both Government and Opposition parties have been growing increasingly concerned that such a gross level of inaccuracy would leave the election process open to massive abuse.
In the Dáil last month, former Labour leader Ruairí Quinn described the current register as an "absolute farce" and he advocated using the census enumerators to complete two tasks at once. While this was not legally possible, it now looks increasingly likely that the enumerators will be involved in sorting out the register.
Responding to Mr Quinn, Tánaiste Mary Harney accepted there was a serious problem with the register and that involving the CSO made sense. "I know from talking to my constituency workers that as they go door to door, the names on the register are very different from those of the households."
She attributed some of the problems to the declining numbers involved in politics. When she first became involved in politics, it was the task of party members to ensure the register was up to date.
Ms Harney pledged that some route would be found to get the register in order before the next election but at that stage, she told TDs, that while using census enumerators made sense, the Central Statistics Office believed "it would be too cumbersome".
She said Mr Roche had discussed the issue with colleagues at Cabinet and planned to come forward with an initiative. If using the enumerators was not the chosen method, "we will ensure some route is found to get the register in order before the next election".
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said the only thing preventing Mr Quinn's suggestion from happening was that the political system was hidebound by tradition.
