VOTER REGISTRATION: Immigrants could be key voters in the forthcoming local elections, with local authorities reporting that up to six out of 10 people seeking to get on the supplementary register were non-national.
The supplementary register caters for late voter registration.
Although the final figures have not been calculated in all local authorities, most indicate that a significant proportion of those seeking to get on the supplementary register were born outside Ireland.
Census figures have indicated a significant increase in the number of foreign-born people living in Ireland. The vast majority of them were entitled to register to vote in this month's local elections.
EU citizens, including those from the accession states, will be entitled to vote in the European elections, which take place on the same day. Only Irish citizens can vote in the citizenship referendum.
In South Dublin County Council, 500 out of the 800 additions to the register were non-nationals, Mr Frank Nevin, from the franchise office, reported.
Nearly one in three of those who applied to get on the supplementary register in the Fingal County Council area were non-national, according to a spokeswoman for the franchise section. Out of the 19,000 people who were added to the register, some 6,000 were non-nationals.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council reported that nearly 17 per cent of those on the supplementary register were non-nationals. Out of the 1,350 people who applied to get on the supplementary register 214 were non-nationals.
A spokesman for Dublin City Council said its supplementary register was down on the last one, and added that there was "no dramatic change" in the number of non-nationals seeking to get on the register.
A spokeswoman for Cork County Council franchise section said about one-third of those who applied to gain entry to the supplement to the register of electors were non-nationals.
Although the final totals on the register will not be completed until tonight, she estimated that a total of 4,000 people registered before the May 25th deadline. This was in line with previous local elections, she added.
Areas where a significant number of those seeking to get on the supplementary register were born abroad included Kinsale and Clonakilty, where there are accommodation centres for non-nationals.
In Wexford County Council, 132 non-nationals registered on the supplement.
Mr Martin Hickey, staff officer with the franchise department, said more than 10 per cent of the 1,146 who applied to get on the supplement were non-EU nationals. The total number of people registered to vote in Wexford is 101,673.
A spokesman for Limerick County Council estimated that between 8 and 10 per cent of the 2,400 people on the supplement were non-nationals. However, in some areas up to 30 per cent of the supplements were non-nationals, he said.
"There were quite a lot of non-nationals registering for the supplementary register and certainly this time round a lot of interest from the non-national community was noticed."
In Ennis and Galway, where supplement figures were still unavailable, evidence of non-nationals registering was still evident.
In Ennis, it is estimated that one-quarter of all who registered for the supplement were non-nationals. In Co Galway, close to 500 non-nationals are registered to vote, about 50 per cent of those were added through the supplement register.
In Longford, about one-quarter of those on the supplement are non-national.