ELECTORAL ACT, 1923

The Ballot Papers at a Referendum shall be in the form set out in Part II. of this Schedule and in the event of Referenda in respect of two or more Bills being taken on the same day separate ballot papers of different and distinctive colours shall be provided for each Referendum.

Each Returning Officer shall conduct the Referendum in his constituency on the appointed day in the same manner in all respects as he is required by Part III. of this Act and the Fourth Schedule and Rules Nos. 13 to 19 and 21 to 34 and 44 to 53 inclusive, of Part I., and the whole of Part II. of the Fifth Schedule to this Act with the necessary modifications to conduct a poll at a bye-election at which there are not more than two candidates.

When the Returning Officer has completed the counting of the votes cast in his constituency he shall not publish the result of such counting, but shall forthwith transmit by post to the Clerk of the Dáil in an envelope marked “Result of Referendum” a certificate in the prescribed form stating the number of votes cast in favour of the Bill and against the Bill respectively in his constituency and every such envelope shall be forwarded and delivered by the Post Office free of charge.

When the Clerk of the Dáil shall have received from the several Returning Officers the results of the voting in all the constituencies he shall tabulate such results and ascertain therefrom the result of the voting on that referendum and shall communicate such result to the Oireachtas in such manner as shall from time to time be directed by the Dáil, and shall publish same in the Iris Oifigiúil.

When the Returning Officer has transmitted the certificate of the number of votes cast in his constituency he shall comply with the provisions of Rule 9 (4) of the Fourth Schedule and Rules 34, 35 and 36 of the Fifth Schedule to this Act and thereupon Rules 37 to 41 inclusive of the said Fifth Schedule shall apply to all papers, packets and other things sent to the Clerk of the Dáil under the said Rules 9 (4), 34, 35 and 36.

The names, contents, and boundaries of each borough constituency and of each county constituency, and the names and contents of each University constituency shall be as specified in this Schedule.

The areas mentioned in the second column in Parts I. and II. of this Schedule shall be taken to be those areas as constituted on the First day of January, nineteen hundred and twenty-three, provided that any misnomer or inaccurate description of any of those areas shall not in any way prevent or abridge the operation of this Act with respect to the subject of the description, if it is so designated as to be commonly understood.

If any doubt arises as to the constituency in which any townland, district electoral division, or other place whether larger or smaller than a townland, or district electoral division, is intended by this schedule to be included, that doubt shall be determined by the Minister for Local Government

In sections thirty-nine, sixty-eight and sixty-nine of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act, 1883, “registration officer” shall mean the registration officer under this Act.

In sections twelve and fourteen of the Juries Act (Ireland), 1871, a reference to the county court shall be substituted for a reference to the court at which the register of parliamentary voters is revised.

In section sixteen of the Parliamentary Registration (Ireland) Act, 1885, the registration officer shall be substituted for the clerk of the union; “fifteenth of November” shall be substituted for “first of July” and the word “male” shall be omitted.

The Minister for Local Government may, by Order, make such further adaptations in the provisions of any Act (including any local Act and any Act to confirm a Provisional Order), as may seem to him necessary to make those provisions conform with the provisions of this Act; and any Order so made shall operate as if enacted in this Act.

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