Local authorities around the State reported brisk business yesterday as unregistered voters rushed to get on the supplementary register before the 5 p.m. deadline for the local and European elections.
Over the last few days, forms seeking entry in the supplement to the register of electors arrived in their thousands by post and by hand to county halls.
Most local authorities indicated that a significant proportion of those seeking to get on the supplementary register were from the non-national community.
A spokesperson for Dublin City Council, which received between three and four times the normal amount of post yesterday, said this went to prove that Irish people "always leave it to the last minute".
More than a dozen employees at the council's franchise section worked all day to clear the postal backlog and deal with the queues that formed at the public counters.
As of last Thursday, some 2,000 people had placed themselves on the supplementary register. That figure is expected to double with the input from activity over the weekend and yesterday's rush.
Mr Stephen Peppard, senior executive officer with Fingal County Council, said the council had received several hundred forms from people seeking to register on the supplementary register in the last week to 10 days. The council experienced a "very heavy rush" on Friday and Monday.
For some, according to Mr Peppard, it was a case of leaving it to the last minute, for others it was the realisation, due to advertising, that they needed to register a change of address.
South Dublin County Council and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council similarly reported a big rush in business over the last few days.
Galway County Council received close on 600 applications yesterday alone and said it had been extremely busy since the middle of last week. "Nobody cares to register until the last minute and then they panic," one council employee stated.
Some 3,000 people have applied to Cork County Council so far to be included on the supplementary register. This figure is expected to increased to approximately 4,000 after a late rush. Workers were yesterday bracing themselves for a late-night session to deal with the backlog.
Limerick County Council reported that it had received in the region of 600 applications yesterday and had to work over the weekend to clear a backlog.
Although the problems some asylum-seekers and immigrants ran into when they tried to register to vote earlier this month seem to have eased, one local election candidate experienced difficulties when he attempted to hand in forms for 18 non-nationals at Dublin City Council yesterday morning.
Mr Brendan Donohoe, a community worker in the Rialto area of Dublin city and a Socialist Worker candidate in the local elections, said the council turned him away and said they did not accept forms in bulk.
Mr Donohoe said he was involved in a campaign with the Rainbow Neighbourhood Project informing non-nationals about their right to vote.
However, the forms were accepted later in the day. A spokeswoman for Dublin City Council said the council's reluctance to take bulk registration forms was designed to avoid illegal entrants on to the register.
She said there have been problems in the past when individual candidates or parties have attempted to register people in bulk.
She noted one case when the entire Irish soccer team were registered to vote from an address in O'Connell Street.