Some 2,800 people have been struck off the Dublin City electoral list, nearly one in every 100 person living in the capital.

In the first 12 weeks of 2015, three times the numbers were removed from the voting register compared to the same period in 2014.

“It is a worrying development for sure,” said Fine Gael councillor Noel Rock, who brought the figures to light following enquires.

The Dublin City Councillor told Independent.ie that had been contacted by a number of people who claimed they had been removed from the electoral register without any notice.

“I’ve been told by the Council that there was no official policy regarding clearing up the voter lists, but then how do we explain away such a large ‘purge’ of the register in 2015 compared to previous years.”

“Those removed in the first three months of 2015 accounts for nearly 1pc of the entire number on the Dublin City electoral register. That’s especially scary when you consider if one of the most important referendum in the State’s history next month.”

Last year, between January and March, 837 electors were removed from the register.

However for the same period this year, this figure more than trebled to 2,730.

“I’m not satisfied for the Council’s answer to my enquiries, and I will be following up on this. Many of those I’ve spoken to who were stripped of their voting rights said they’d received nothing from the Dublin City Council informing them so,” said Mr Rock.

“We need to ensure that nobody is incorrectly denied their democratic right to vote.”

The Dublin councillor said it was time for Ireland to introduce a proper online system for vote registration, similar to the one that exists in the UK.

“The system we have now is antiquated,” he added.

Dublin City Council said the reason the number of deleted electors increased significantly is because the enumerators commenced their inspection earlier this year - on the 16th February - and the deletions reflect the information available to us.

"The Franchise section will only remove an elector from the register, as a result of door to door enquiries, where the inspector has verified the information to be correct with a member of the household or another acceptable source such as the submission of the registration form by the householder," said a spokesman.

"Before any elector is removed from the register a letter is issued asking them to verify that they are no longer resident at the address.

"The letter also includes a section which allows them to re-register at their new address, if they so wish. Electors are not removed from the register without some form of supporting documentation (i.e. registration forms, inspection books etc.).

"It should also be noted that the right to register is an individual right and there is no compulsion on a person to register to vote.

"The council makes every effort to encourage people to register to vote in order to exercise their democratic right."

Those interested in checking to see if they are registered to vote, can do so via the website www.checktheregister.ie.

Online Editors