COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

south dublin county council crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, September 14, 2009

MOTION NO.6

MOTION: Councillor R. Dowds

That South Dublin County Council requests the County Manager to put the electoral register on the Internet unless there is a legal impediment to doing so.

REPORT:

A facility for an electronic search of the Register of Electors currently exists on the councils website.  A national electronic search is available by accessing http://www.checktheregister.ie   The search is conducted by entering the Surname, First name, House Number and Street name for a voter.

Since 2004 Registration Authorities must publish two versions of the Electoral Register each year . The Full Register lists everyone who is entitled to vote and can only be used for an electoral or other statutory purpose. The Edited Register contains the names and addresses of persons who have indicated that their details can be used for a purpose other than an electoral or other statutory purpose, e.g. for direct marketing use by a commercial or other organisation.

The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner draws particular attention to the use / publication of the Register of Electors and has highlighted several breaches of citizen's privacy rights in this regard, especially in relation to direct marketing.   Accordingly neither the Full or Edited register is published on the world wide web but is available for viewing purposes only  in public places eg Council Offices, Libraries, Garda Stations and Post Offices.    

While copies of both registers are statutorily available for purchase they are sold in pdf version to ensure that the electronic system cannot be interrogated to extract unauthorised information and all purchasers are reminded of their obligations as follows:

“A person who uses information in the register prepared under section 13, including a draft register, the supplement to the register prepared under section 15 or in an electors list published under section 16, being information which is excluded from the edited register or edited electors list, for a purpose, other than electoral or other statutory purpose, shall be guilty of an offence.”

In summary it is not proposed to publish a full on-line version of the electoral register for the reasons outlined above.