Voter register concerns
Mattie McGrath questioned the register and alleged an improperly registered French student, while the Taoiseach replied that early votes were mainly postal, island and nursing-home votes, and said the student allegation had been refuted. He also welcomed the rise in young voter registrations.
There is an old saying that one should never count one's chickens before they are hatched. The Taoiseach has had a chance to broadcast here. I am asking him again what I asked him last week. The Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, is now gone. The Taoiseach just said that with the exception of postal voters very few had voted. I wonder who else might have voted. What is the Taoiseach going to do about the register? I asked the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, about this matter. I wrote a letter to him which I hand delivered today about the French student in NUIG who was illegally put on the register in Galway. How many others have been put on? The register is a mess. People have been put on twice. When will the Government hold an investigation? Will it be when the votes have been counted? Will the Taoiseach enlighten us as to who else has voted other than the people with postal votes, rather than use the Order of Business to promote the "Yes" side, examine the register and have the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, look into the illegal activity? It is an undocumented mess with people being on illegally, including people who did not seek to go on the register and are not eligible. This is a French citizen who is only here to study. Will the Taoiseach deal with that instead of campaigning for more and more votes for the "Yes" side? Let the people decide. We will accept what the people decide but we will not before they have decided, and before the polls are even open on Friday morning.
Comment on this
Deputy McGrath can cool the conspiracy theory. The people who have voted so far are postal voters.
Comment on this
There is early voting on islands and also some nursing homes. I do not know if they voted today or if it will be the following day, but that is the norm.
Regarding the allegation that a French student was put on the register-----
Comment on this
It is not an allegation; it is a fact.
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-----I understand that it has been refuted.
One thing that is very encouraging is the huge number of young people who registered to vote in recent weeks. It indicates that young people want to have a say in this referendum and it is young people who will be more affected by laws that we make in relation to the termination of pregnancies. No matter how they vote, I am really encouraged that there has been such an upsurge in the numbers of young people registering to vote.