Oh dear. You’d think that they’d at least have directed you to Reach.ie or some dead-end like that.

To answer your question, there are many reasons why there hasn’t been any action and most of them boil down to the priority given to information as an asset in most organisations, particularly information that is only applied every once in a while (such as every 5 years). As it’s a low priority, work practices have become fragmented, approaches and understanding of the ‘rules of the game’ have atrophied and quality has declined. The same root cause affected PPARS… local variations in work practices affected quality and delivery times. The plus side for the electoral register is that to fix the data and iron out the divergences you aren’t dealing with people’s contracts of employment (although I’m sure that the PSEU or IMPACT might argue otherwise.

A cynical view is that it suits the politicians to have it like it is. I don’t subscribe to that view because if the register is f*cked an inaccurate then local politicos end up wearing out shoe leather chasing down voters who are gone away. What is more likely (based on my experience and the experiences of others in the IQ world) is that there is a white-knuckle fear of admitting that the problem is complex and the solutions are both simple and complex.

Also, the real reason is that it isn’t sexy. No politician gets re-elected because he made the register better. If he opens a hospital or stops one being closed, or doodles a new logo for his Department then the ‘sexy’ factor might help his chances. It’s just like how in businesses the front-end systems and the sales people get the lions share of development budget and other resources and the ‘backoffice’ or ‘information processing’ areas are left on the hind tit because they don’t go ‘bing’ or flash things on the screen.

That culture is changing though. But the fact that the nice girl who answered the phone to you couldn’t put her hands on a process map or website where you could get the process or forms is testament to the fact that there is still a long way to go.

Where have you done your IQ work by the way? I’m always interested in meeting fellow survivors.

Time to ask the question – why no movement on the subject? It seems likely that the main reason is that the present ‘arrangements’ enable TDs, Councillors, etc., to arrange that their people get registered and floating people don’t. That probably suits the status quo.

As someone like yourself who has spent a lot of time on IQ and related issues, to me it is obvious why the IQ issue is critical. However, the cynic in me understands why it isn’t fixed…..

I did ask the franchise office in Cork CoCo how you got off the register – there being quite a few people around here who are on the register but don’t live in this electoral district any more, and the nice girl who answered the phone said she had no idea…..

Bye, Barry