Concerns over applications to electoral register

The Donegal county secretary has expressed serious concerns that a number of postal applications made to this year's register of electors were not "bona fide".

Eunan Sweeney made the claim in his report to councillors on the preparation of the register of electors 2007-2008 which took place ahead of the Dáil elections.

He also complained of council staff being subjected to "unacceptable verbal abuse" from public representatives, individuals and their families when they removed a name from the register.

He made a number of recommendations and called for a "root and branch" review of how it is compiled nationally. His review revealed 34,000 changes were made during the preparation of the register.

Mr Sweeney raised his most serious concerns in relation to the supplementary postal and special disabled voter lists. There were 400 postal votes and 38 special disabled votes included in the supplement.

"This was a concern as there were strong grounds for suspicion that a number of applications were not bona fide," he said.

Mr Sweeney also said there is a "public apathy" towards the register, "except in the days leading up to the election when persons discover they are not registered and it is too late to register".

Many foreign nationals did not want to be registered, or had a lack of knowledge and interest in the Irish political system.

Fine Gael director of elections Cllr Terence Slowey said that Mr Sweeney's review should be used as a blueprint for how "things should be done right".

Mr Slowey said the entire process should be overseen by an independent body such as the Electoral Commission.

© 2007 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times