Minister for the Environment Dick Roche has extended the deadline for the completion of a revised electoral register after he received requests from three local authorities to do so.
The Minister, who admitted at the recent Fianna Fáil ardfheis that the electoral register was "a mess", had come under increasing pressure to extend the deadline as county councils throughout the State sought to ensure their registers were up to date.
Minister for the Environment Dick Roche
An estimated 600,000 people who have died or moved house have been taken off the register in recent weeks as the county councils began updating their records. Some people had also been registered to vote in more than one local authority area under out-of-date electoral records.
In a statement this evening, Mr Roche said he would now extend the time for all councils to complete their work until December 29 th.
"Under current legislation members of the public have until 25th November to send in corrections to the draft register to their city or county council and the local authorities have until 13th December to finalise their work on the tegister before referring relevant cases to the county registrar," he said.
"I have now received requests from a number of local authorities seeking some additional time to complete their work on the register. I have already stated that I would consider any such requests for time extensions sympathetically. Rather than confine the extension to the three councils that have to date sought an extension, I have decided to provide an extension of time to all councils to complete their work on the register up until 29th December.
"In these circumstances I have also decided to give an additional fortnight to members of the public for submitting corrections to their council up until 9th December. I have also decided to request councils to hold registration clinics in council offices and public libraries up until 9th December to further facilitate the public."
The Minister said he would amend the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006, currently before the Dail, to give effect to the changes.
Mr Roche said the process of renewing the electoral register had been "the most intensive in the history of the State".
"The extensive publicity campaign which accompanied the campaign means that the interest in the registration process is at its highest level in living memory.
"This very success, and the number of changes to the register, has meant that the dates which have applied in the past now need to be relaxed. This will ensure that everyone who is entitled to be on the register will have every opportunity to do so."
Earlier this month, Mr Roche told the Oireachtas Environment Committee that he would not bow to Opposition pressure to have the deadline extended. He said, however, that if any local authority needed an extension of time he would give the matter "detailed consideration".