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Seanad
‹ Order of Business

Electoral register accuracy

Summary

Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill says the electoral register is unreliable and proposes linking it to PPS numbers to prevent eligible residents being wrongly removed.

I agree with the comments of my colleague, Senator Pat O'Neill, on the electoral register. It is in a mess. Every individual living in the State or contributing to it should be entitled to a vote. It is wrong that people would be inadvertently removed from the register. The Seanad could do the citizens of the country some service by proposing a number of recommendations regarding the electoral register. Linking it to the PPSN system is probably the way to go. A previous Oireachtas committee on the environment made such a proposal a number of years ago and I am not sure why it has not been implemented. That is a matter we should examine and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government should be invited to come before the House.

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that the Minister for Health come before the House again today to provide clarity given the confusion he created yesterday on the future of maternity services in the five hospitals in the West/North West Hospitals Group. Confusion has been created-----

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