The Labour party has called for the establishment of a commissioner to overhaul the register of voters and stamp out electoral fraud.
Labour's environment spokesman Éamon Gilmore introduced the Electoral Registration Commissioner Bill, which would "totally revamp" the register and give the commissioner power to supervise the "performance by registration authorities of their obligations in the preparation and publication of electoral registers".
He insisted "it would have taken only a fraction of the almost €60 million wasted on an insecure, unreliable and unwanted electronic voting system to provide the local authorities with the resources, the facilities and the modern technology to guarantee a register that is as accurate as it is humanly possible to have".
Minister for the Environment Dick Roche however, rejected the legislation and said that "no responsible government could support the Bill", which "does not offer any practical solutions to improving the register in the short-term".
He said it was not practical to talk about radical change in the electoral registration over a short period, and in the lead-in to an election this could lead to legal challenge. The Minister pointed out that the legislation seemed to be introducing compulsory electoral registration, which would merit full debate.
Mr Roche said it would create another "quango". The Opposition had complained that quangos removed matters from Dáil scrutiny "yet this Bill intends doing just that".
The Minister said that more than 30,000 deaths were recorded in Ireland every year. Moreover, local authorities had access to electronic files linked with the General Register Office, which contained information on deaths in their area and that would contribute greatly to improving the register, and people could register online. He had allocated €875 million to local authorities for general purposes and was prepared to provide additional funding to ensure a comprehensive once-off check.
Mr Gilmore, who said it was a vitally important issue involving the "integrity of our electoral system", said that all politicians knew by direct experience that it was a "shambles", incomplete and "out of date. Virtually everyone involved in politics can recount experience of canvassing in housing estates or blocks of flats where the names on the register bear little relationship to those actually living in these houses or apartments." He cited cases of housing estates with 200 new homes and only a handful of people on the register.
Figures about inaccuracies in the register ranged from 300,000 up to 860,000, but even if that figure were only a quarter right, "then we still have a huge problem".
This gave rise to two main concerns - that the inaccuracies were depriving many people of the democratic right to vote, and that the level of inaccuracy provided "huge potential for electoral fraud".
Government Chief Whip Tom Kitt said that local authorities should redouble their efforts and undertake a "major driver" over the next six months to ensure the register was as accurate as possible. He had begun discussions with the Central Statistics Office on the possibility of census enumerators helping to ensure the electoral registers were up to date.
Joe Costello (Labour, Dublin Central) said the enumerators should continue to be employed in May and June to check the electoral register.
Joan Burton (Labour, Dublin West) said errors were such that landlords could collect dozens of voting cards and pass them on to candidates and parties "willing to chance their arm and commit electoral fraud".
