Westport Sinn Féin Town Councillor Dave Keating has called on the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, to incorporate PPS numbers in the register of electors application process. Cllr Keating renewed his call after a Dáil report showed major discrepancies in the electoral register in Mayo.
“Today’s Dáil report further highlights the ongoing problems with the electoral register across the country. In Mayo, approximately 10 per cent of the register is inaccurate – with an extra 9,000 people registered to vote compared with the Government’s own census carried out in 2006. Despite Minister Gormley’s promises to sort out the register, and the spending of millions of euros on its maintenance and updating — the electoral register is still wholly inaccurate. The use of the unique PPS number — which is already used for social welfare, PRSI, health and tax purposes — is the obvious way to sort out the voting registration process.”
At the January meeting of Westport Town Council, Cllr Keating succeeded in getting full support for his motion instructing the town clerk to write to the Minister of the Environment requesting the incorporation of PPS numbers in the register of electors process.
