Ministers launch public engagement campaign for voter registration - Kilkenny Live

The Green Party TD for Carlow Kilkenny and Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan, and Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, have encouraged people to make sure they are correctly registered to vote. 

Their message reinforces the voter registration awareness campaign launched today encouraging everybody to make sure that their details are current and correct on checktheregister.ie. 

Significant progress has been made on Programme for Government commitments in relation to the modernisation of the electoral registration process over the past twelve months, with improvements to the voter registration system meaning that people can now register to vote or update their details at any time using the checktheregister.ie system. 

Furthermore, PPSNs, Dates of Birth and Eircodes can also be added to the system, assisting local authorities in their work to improve the accuracy of the electoral register. 

16- and 17-year-olds can now also pre-register to vote and will be automatically added to the electoral register upon turning 18. 

Work is also underway to establish a national voter registration system, with Dublin City Council recently appointed as the designated registration authority under the Electoral Acts to empower it to establish and manage, on behalf of all local authorities, a national electoral registration system.

“The last few years have seen some of the most transformative changes to electoral registration in generations. Not long ago, almost everyone who wanted to register or update their information had to do so by sending a paper form to their local authority and we all recall the long queues at Garda stations at election time,” said Minister Noonan.

“The policy, legislative and technical changes we’ve made, including to checktheregister.ie, mean that you can apply to register or update your details online in just a few short minutes,” added the Kilkenny TD.

“I’m encouraging everyone today to ensure your local authority has the correct information to enable you to vote come polling day.”

Minister Noonan said that he was particularly pleased that local authorities can now take applications from everyone once they reach the age of 16.

He also called on long-time voters to log on to checktheregister.ie, even if they haven’t moved or their circumstances haven’t changed, to ensure that their entries are current and correct.

Minister O’Brien added that the electoral register is a ‘critical part’ of recognising the value of our democracy.

“While local authorities are responsible for managing and maintaining the electoral register, we are all individually responsible for ensuring our details on the register are current and correct. This is a critical action each of us can take to protect and enhance our democracy,” he added. 

The Ministers noted that the coming 24 months will be a relatively busy electoral period with Local and European Elections in June and both a General Election and Presidential Election due before the end of 2025.