Art O’Leary, the chief executive of the Independent Electoral Commission has just publicly admitted that the Irish Electoral Register could be inflated by as much as 500,000 names through duplication or through not removing people who have died. Thus, he warned that the disappointing official turnout of 59.7 per cent in the recent national election was ‘a very blunt measure by which to judge the performance...or the engagement of people generally with democracy’. More worryingly, Mr O’Leary did not mention those who had emigrated out of the state (such as yours truly) but are still on the register. He also noted that no-one should expect it to be fixed any time soon, adding helpfully ‘I don't know if that figure is correct or not, but it sounds to me as if it's about right’. When challenged that voter fraud was now more likely as a result, Mr O’Leary’s conclusion was hardly a resounding reassurance, ‘if it happens then it is probably immaterial, I suspect. But like I said, we have no evidence of that.[1] In short, Art doesn’t know and is guessing, but it really doesn’t matter too much, so don’t hold him to any of it, please.
