Members of the public have until the end of today to make sure they are registered to vote in the next election.
The closing date for people to get their names on to the draft register was originally Friday, November 24th, but that deadline was extended by two weeks by the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche.
Local authorities have until the end of December to finalise their lists.
The extension was given after it emerged that attempts to update the official register of who is entitled to vote had run into serious difficulties.
On the basis of information provided by local authorities, officials in the Department of the Environment estimated last month that about 170,000 people had been mistakenly removed from the register because no contact was made with their household - but they were entitled to vote.
A further 335,000 names were deleted because people had died, moved house or had been registered at more than one address.