I would like to ask the Minister for Finance about the electoral register mess. Will he take a personal interest in the situation that has been created? Some 600,000 names were removed from the register but the problem is they are not the correct names. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, who is responsible for the register, describes these as "inadvertent deletions". An estimated 20% of people on the register should not be on it but, instead, the wrong names have been deleted. When The Sunday Tribune, in particular, brought this matter to public attention, we asked the Government to use the census process so enumerators would give citizens an electoral register form as well to be collected when they returned for the census form but that was ignored. We sought amending legislation to permit compliance with the Data Protection Commissioner’s view that access to the information stored by utility companies and others should be facilitated but the Minister also pooh-poohed that. We are back to “inadvertent deletions” and the attitude is to blame county councils and the citizen. However, it is the Government’s task to maintain the electoral register. Credit companies have more reliable quality data than the register.

I suggest a few measures the Government might take urgently. The first is to extend the deadline to register beyond 25 November. It is not possible to deal with the scale of inaccuracy between now and 25 November.

The Deputy's time is concluded.

The deadline should be extended so that initiatives can be taken to at least correct some of the damage. A massive advertising and public awareness campaign is needed and the leaders of political parties need to make a joint appeal to the public in respect of the state of the register. Additional resources should be provided to local authorities to validate the job that requires to be done. A helpline, with in-built verification, is needed for those who cannot go on-line to correct inaccuracies. Anyone whose name has been deleted from the register ought to be notified in writing that he or she has been removed and to tell him or her what he or she can do about it. The procedures for getting on the supplementary register ought to be made more amenable——

The Deputy's time is concluded.

——because the only route available to people to get on it is to attend their local Garda station and, in many cases, they will not do that. The practice varies throughout the country but, in some parts, people will simply not do that. That process must be simplified. Measures can still be taken at this stage. The issue needs to be addressed urgently because remarks such as "Sure, only 70% of the people would vote on the best day" is not the way to approach this issue.

I ask the Deputy to give way to the Minister.

This is a cornerstone of the basis on which we should conduct elections.

We all take this matter seriously. It is not a question of being blasé about it. We are all aware of the serious problems there were with the accuracy of the register and that has been a feature of the register for a long number of years. This has been exacerbated by population mobility with hundreds of thousands of people changing their addresses every year. For example, 90,000 new homes were built last year while thousands of other houses changed hands. Councils have been slow to remove people from the register. Names have always been added to the register without the concomitant obligation to delete names. Failure to remove names on death or to reflect family breakdown and ownership of second homes has complicated what was never a simple issue in the first place.

Arising from the concern expressed on all sides of the House, the Government instigated a comprehensive and thorough review. Local authorities completed field work for the most extensive and equitable registration campaign in decades. A total of 1,500 field workers called on 1.25 million households while extensive publicity campaigns were undertaken. Suggestions in the media that the draft register would still contain more than 500,000 names that should not be included may have arisen because of the failure to take into account the 8% increase in population when one compares the 2002 census result with the 2007-08 register. The newspaper did not take that factor into account and, therefore, the difference may not be as great as suggested. However, whether it is or not, between now and 25 November, we must examine what way political parties and activists can help to make sure voters are registered. A great deal of activity is going on in that regard.

Thankfully, the supplementary register system, to which the Deputy referred, is much more flexible.

It is not flexible.

That is not true.

Allow the Minister to continue without interruption.

It is true. Deputy Rabbitte asked the question——

It might be working in Laoighis-Offaly but it is not in Dublin West.

It is not true.

Allow the Minister to continue without interruption. The Deputy's party leader had four and a half minutes to speak when he should have had only two. The Deputies should not take the Minister's time.

One could not get on the supplementary register previously when the deadline passed but once 25 November has passed, it will still be possible to get on the register up to 15 days before the next election. It is not the case that if a person has failed to register by 25 November, he or she will be deprived of a vote and we should not send that message to the public. A supplementary register system is in place, which is designed to make sure we do not end up in the position that pertained in the old days where, once the white register was published in January or February, that was it. It is right that there are more flexible arrangements in place for the infirm and the disabled to send postal votes.

We must continue to promote the idea of people taking on their obligations and ensuring that they are on the register. We will do everything we can through available systems. In recent years, the registration of voters has been reformed and the supplementary register system has provided us with a continuous avenue to make the system more accurate than previously. We want to make it absolutely accurate.

Inaction in this area was not an option. People spoke about widespread prospects for fraud, impersonation and so on, an experience in parts of urban Ireland at the last election.

What about rural Ireland?

We have responded with the most comprehensive review of the register in years. We must continue to work on this matter beyond 25 November and I am sure the Minister will do whatever work he can in this regard.

With respect, the Minister is winging it. I know what the problems are, but what will the Government do to address them? There is no point telling the House that in the old days, there was no supplementary register. The Minister is certainly referring to the old days because there has been a supplementary register for as long as I can remember. There is no point telling people in many parts of the country that they must go to their local Garda stations because the stations in many villages have been closed and urban voters will not queue at Garda stations to check their names or be put on the supplementary register.

Like every Deputy, I have received dozens of telephone calls, e-mails and so on concerning this matter. This morning, one of my colleagues in the House contacted me to say that he has been removed from the register. We have been given all kinds of explanations as to why people who take their voting responsibilities seriously have been removed.

That is ordinary in Dublin North-Central.

The Minister is correct because that type of person will take action to put the situation right, but the great majority of those who have been inadvertently deleted, as the Minister put it, will not put it right and there will be a great deal of anger on polling day when they find that they have been removed from the register.

Third World countries invite the United Nations to verify that their voting systems are fair, but we are boasting about how wealthy our nation is when we cannot compile the basic electoral register accurately. Some banks, finance houses and credit companies have records of the citizenry that are more accurate than the electoral register.

They get the information from the local authorities.

The Deputy's time has concluded.

When we paid rates, there was no difficulty in keeping the register accurate and up to date. Respectfully, I made seven points about what the Government might do. Unless the Minister's party has a system that is unavailable to the rest of us, which I am sure is not the case, this is a democratic question for our democracy. The Minister does not seem to take on board the point that the Government must first extend the 25 November deadline.

The Deputy's time has concluded. He has gone long over time.

If local authorities require more resources, those resources should be made available. The Government should extend the 25 November deadline because, after that date, one cannot cause one's name to be put on the register until the final register is produced in February, at which time one must go through the rigorous process of attending a Garda station and so on. This is not a satisfactory situation.

I ask the Deputy to give way to the Minister.

There is a compelling argument to remove the matter from the aegis of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and local authorities——

The Deputy has spoken for all of the seven minutes allotted to this question and I ask that he give way for the Minister to respond.

——and to set up an electoral commission to address the issue. In terms of the immediate situation with which we are confronted, I ask the Minister to address seriously the seven points I raised.

Hear, hear.

Many additions and deletions have occurred as a result of extensive field work. In a number of local authorities, there is a strong correlation between that work and the 2006 census, which estimated how many people at or above 18 years of age will be on the register in 2007 and 2008. For example, the figure is 100% in Dún Laoghaire, 101% in County Laois, 99% in north County Tipperary and 100% in south County Tipperary. There is a strong correlation between the registration pattern and the 2006 census, not the 2002 census.

Registering every adult will always be difficult, particularly in major urban areas. For example, the figures for Cork and Dublin are 88% and 80%, respectively. People have the opportunity to get on the register before the election and we will continue to help in whatever way we can. If there is excess registration in areas after the local authorities' work has been completed, it will reflect the long-standing bias in the system towards putting people on the register and ensuring that their rights to vote are maintained. Much work has been done to remove people who have died or moved away from the register and we must take account of the significant population movement in recent years.

The Deputy may wish to table parliamentary questions to the relevant Minister regarding his specific requests, but I do not know whether any of the options is possible and I do not want to say. Much work has been done and many resources have been devoted to what has been the most comprehensive review ever. Some people make points about issues in certain areas, but it is a matter for us all to ensure that the register in those areas is as accurate as possible in the time available, which is not limited to 25 November. I cannot tell the Deputy much more beyond the fact that this campaign has had a view to making the register more accurate. We must recognise that we are moving from a standing position of an inaccurate register.

The Government has not solved the problem.

It is solved.

By reference to where the register was, it does not——

If the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government checks his local authority, he will see how far off he is.

The figure is at least 101%.

County Wicklow does not have a proper register.

Tens of thousands of people have been dealt with.

The Minister has disenfranchised his own voters.

Allow Deputy Joe Higgins to speak without interruption.

I hope that he gets his full time.