Trinity College Students' Union emailed members urging them to register twice for next year's general election, once in their home county and once in Dublin. The union subsequently backtracked and informed students to register only once after being told that it may potentially be an offence to be registered in two separate electoral areas.

While it is currently not illegal to be registered in two separate constituencies, environment minister Dick Roche has promised legislation in the new year aimed at cleaning up the register. This comes on foot of revelations in this newspaper that there are currently more than 440,000 extra names on the electoral register.

Student union leaders in Trinity say that they sent an email to members urging them to register twice after receiving legal advice from the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) that it was legal to be registered in two areas. However, having been alerted to the potential problems of doubleregistering, the union corrected its stance, said Trinity SU president David Quinn.

Officers from USI were this weekend uncontactable, although USI president Colm Hamrogue has told the college's student newspaper, Trinity News, that USI had sought discussions with the Department of the Environment but had been unable to secure a meeting with officials.

The government is attempting to clean up the electoral register in the run-up to next year's election. There are over 440,000 extra names on the register, prompting fears of voter fraud. Guidelines stating that one in four voters must produce identification at polling stations were not observed during the last election.

Roche recently put forward the possibility of the government employing retired gardai to man polling stations in a bid to crack down on the potential for voter fraud.

The USI call for students to double register for the election came as the organisation attempted to ensure that students were on the register.

They have also urged the government to ensure the election is held on a Saturday to make it easier for students to return to the constituency in which they are registered.

According to Simon Hall, deputy president of Trinity SU, holding elections midweek effectively disenfranchises thousands of students who are unable to return to their constituency to vote. Having backtracked on calls for students to register in both their home constituency and college constituency, Trinity SU leaders urged students to decide whether they wanted to be registered in their college county or home county.

A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said the students' union should never have told its members they could register for the election twice. "To say that someone in this department told the USI that students could register in two different places is an absolute lie and a fabrication, " he said. "It categorically didn't happen. No one in their right mind would have told the students that. It is illegal."