THE DEPARTMENT OF Local Government has clarified that people who are currently entitled to vote will remain so – without providing further information – after incorrect wording was used on a government website.
The incorrect information led people to believe that they would have to enter their PPS number, date of birth, and Eircode, to remain valid on the electoral register.
The Register of Electors is a list of people who are eligible and registered to vote in Ireland. Each local authority publish, maintain and update their register. There is currently a campaign to remind people to register to vote ahead of two referendums in March, and local and European elections in June this year.
The clarification comes after confusing wording also appeared on leaflets that were distributed by the national government and City and County Councils which appeared to imply that people were required to update their information to remain registered.
“Visit checktheregister.ie now to update your details by adding your: PPSN, Date of Birth, Eircode,” one of the leaflets says.
“Already registered? You must give additional information,” another reads.
“Even if you are already registered, you now need to add your PPSN…,” the website said.
The misleading wording was also covered on Monday’s Liveline, Joe Duffy’s RTÉ Radio 1 Show, during which the host condemned the contradictory messages on the checktheregister.ie website, calling them “ambiguous”.
Duffy also read out parts of a government statement on the show clarifying that people would not need to re-register or submit extra information in order to vote.
However, some commentators had assumed the worst from the error and spread strong claims that people might be taken off the electoral register, or even that the government has changed the criteria in order to stop people from voting.
These claims remain online, including on the accounts of political groups and figures.
Irish Freedom Party Secretary Daithí Ó Fallamháin wrote on Twitter/X: “Make sure you are still registered to vote. You need to have given them your PPSN and date of birth. (Check. Otherwise you may be in for a shock on Election Day.) #IrelandisFull”
“The government have added extra requirements to vote,” wrote Derek Blighe, who leads Ireland First, a new anti-immigration political party. “This is extremely sinister, you cannot vote until you update these.”
Blighe has previously said: “Ireland is in an totalitarian dictatorship” and said of immigration: “The government are importing voters to vote AGAINST you”.
(Most immigrants from outside the EU are not able to vote in the European elections, but may vote for city and county councillors in the local election this year. See more here).
As clarified on Liveline, people who have already been registered to vote will not need to provide additional information: they will still be able to vote.
“Anyone on the register who is currently entitled to vote will remain able to do so,” the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage said in a statement shared with The Journal.
“We acknowledge some confusion has been caused by wording on Checktheregister.ie. We have amended the website accordingly to clarify.”
The department said that it was encouraging everyone to check and confirm or update the information on the electoral register “as part of ongoing and longer term work to improve the data quality”, but that they were not taking voting rights away from people who had not.
“At present, everyone eligible and registered to vote at an upcoming poll will remain on the register and will receive a polling card; no further action is required at this time,” they said.
“New applicants to the register, or those who are amending their information online, will need to provide their PPSN and Date of Birth. This is to enable the local authority to confirm the information provided. A paper form and an in-person identity check remain available where people wish to use them instead.”
The changes to voter registration were brought into law in October 2022. The new provisions in Part 3 of the Electoral Reform Act 2022 allow for online registration for first-time voters. Previously, this cohort had to present to a garda station for identity checks and to have their forms witnessed.
Under the new system, a paper form is still available for those who wish to use it, either with a PPSN or with an in-person identity check at a local Garda station similar to the previous process.
According to the Department, “where a person doesn’t have or doesn’t provide a PPSN or where the cross-check doesn’t confirm the information provided, they will need to submit a paper form certified on foot of an in-person identity check at a local Garda station or at the office of the registration authority”.
The Journal FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. You can read it here. For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader’s Guide here. You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say