SEANAD BYE-ELECTIONS ACT, 1930

AN ACT TO REGULATE THE CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS HELD TO FILL THE PLACES OF MEMBERS OF SEANAD EIREANN WHO DIE, RESIGN, OR BECOME DISQUALIFIED AND TO REGULATE THE NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES AT SUCH ELECTIONS. [18th February, 1930.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Definitions.

1.—In this Act—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Local Government and Public Health;

the expression “Seanad election” means an election of members of Seanad Eireann held in pursuance of Article 32 of the Constitution;

the expression “Seanad bye-election” means an election held in pursuance of Article 34 of the Constitution to elect a person to fill the place of a member of Seanad Eireann who has died, resigned or become disqualified;

the word “prescribed” means prescribed by the Minister by regulations made under this Act.

2 Appointment of dates of Seanad bye-elections.

2.—(1) Whenever a vacancy occurs in the membership of Seanad Eireann by the death, resignation, or disqualification of a member thereof in order to cause such vacancy to be filled the Clerk of the Seanad shall, on the direction of Seanad Eireann, send to the Minister notice (in this Act referred to as notice of a casual vacancy) in writing of such vacancy.

• (2) As soon as conveniently may be and, in any case, not more than six months after receiving notice of a casual vacancy, the Minister shall by order (in this Act referred to as a bye-election order) direct a bye-election to be held to fill the vacancy mentioned in such notice or, where more than one such notice has been received by the Minister without a bye-election order having been made in consequence thereof, to fill the several vacancies mentioned in such notices respectively.

• (3) Every bye-election order shall appoint—

• (a) a day (in this Act referred to as the last day for receiving nominations) not less than twenty-one nor more than twenty-eight days after the date of such order which shall be the last day on which nominations of candidates for the bye-election the subject of such order may be delivered to the Seanad returning officer, and

• (b) the day (in this Act referred to as the day of issue of ballot papers) on which the ballot papers for the said bye-election are to be issued and posted to electors, and

• (c) the day and hour (in this Act referred to as the close of the poll) at which the poll at the said bye-election is to be closed.

• (4) Every bye-election order shall state the name and official address of the Seanad returning officer for the bye-election to which such order relates.

• (5) Every bye-election order shall be published in the Iris Oifigiúil as soon as may be after it is made.

3 Seanad returning officer and expenses.

3.—(1) For the purposes of every Seanad bye-election there shall be a Seanad returning officer who shall be appointed for each such election by the Minister not later than the date of the bye-election order made in respect of such bye-election.

• (2) It shall be the duty of the Seanad returning officer to conduct the bye-election for which he is appointed, to count the votes cast thereat and to ascertain and announce the results thereof in accordance with this Act and to do such other matters and things in respect of such election as he is required by or under this Act to do.

• (3) The Minister for Finance shall prepare a scale of maximum charges for Seanad returning officers at Seanad bye-elections and every Seanad returning officer shall be paid by the said Minister out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof his reasonable charges in respect of his services and expenses in relation to the bye-election for which he was appointed but not exceeding in any case the maximum charges specified in the said scale of maximum charges for the time being in force.

4 Nomination of candidates at bye-elections.

4.—(1) A candidate for election at a Seanad bye-election shall be nominated in writing and such written nomination shall be subscribed by two members of the Oireachtas as proposer and seconder respectively and by ten other members of the Oireachtas as assenting to the nomination.

• (2) Every candidate shall be nominated by a separate nomination paper and the nomination paper shall be in the prescribed form and shall contain the particulars required by such form, including a statement of the qualifications of the candidate for membership of Seanad Eireann under Article 30 of the Constitution.

• (3) Sub-section (3) of section 3 of the Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1927 (No. 33 of 1927), is hereby repealed and in lieu thereof it is hereby enacted that no nomination of a candidate at a Seanad bye-election shall be valid or complete unless such candidate or his proposer or seconder on his behalf shall have delivered to the Seanad returning officer before twelve o'clock noon on the last day for receiving nominations at such bye-election an affidavit in the form set out in the Schedule to the said Act sworn by such candidate in the presence of a commissioner for oaths (as defined by the said Act) of a peace commissioner to whom he is personally known.

• (4) The Seanad returning officer shall provide and furnish on demand to the Clerk of the Dáil and the Clerk of the Seanad respectively a sufficient number of forms of nomination paper and the said Clerks shall make such forms available on demand to members of the Oireachtas.

• (5) A candidate may, by notice in writing signed by him and delivered to the Seanad returning officer before twelve o'clock noon on the last day for receiving nominations, withdraw his nomination, and the proposer and seconder of a candidate who is out of Ireland may, by notice in writing signed by them and containing a statement of the absence of such candidate from Ireland and delivered to the Seanad returning officer before twelve o'clock noon on the last day for receiving nominations, withdraw the nomination of such candidate.

5 Delivery of nomination papers.

5.—(1) Every nomination paper nominating a candidate at a Seanad bye-election shall be delivered by such candidate or his proposer or seconder to the Seanad returning officer in person either at any time after the making of the bye-election order and before ten o'clock in the forenoon on the last day for receiving nominations or after ten o'clock in the forenoon and before twelve o'clock noon on the last day for receiving nominations.

• (2) A nomination paper delivered to the Seanad returning officer before ten o'clock in the forenoon on the last day for receiving nominations may be delivered to him at any place at which he may be found, and a nomination paper delivered to the Seanad returning officer after ten o'clock in the forenoon and before twelve o'clock noon on the last day for receiving nominations shall be delivered to him at the place at which he attends in pursuance of this Act between those hours to receive nomination papers.

• (3) Every nomination paper duly delivered to the Seanad returning officer before ten o'clock in the forenoon on the last day for receiving nominations shall be retained by him until the said day and hour.

• (4) Whenever a nomination paper is duly delivered to the Seanad returning officer at a time permitted by this Act but before four o'clock in the afternoon on the day before the last day for receiving nominations, the Seanad returning officer shall forthwith communicate in writing to the Clerk of the Dáil and to the Clerk of the Seanad the fact of such nomination paper having been so delivered and the name, description, address, and qualifications as stated in such nomination paper of the candidate thereby proposed and the names as stated in such nomination paper of the proposer and seconder of such candidate, and the said Clerks shall respectively communicate to the members of Dáil Eireann and to the members of Seanad Eireann the information so communicated to them by the Seanad returning officer but a failure to communicate or an inaccuracy in the communication of such information to such members by such Clerks shall not invalidate the nomination nor the bye-election.

6 Objections to nomination papers.

6.—(1) At ten o'clock in the forenoon on the last day for receiving nominations at a Seanad bye-election the Seanad returning officer shall attend at a convenient place previously notified by him in the Iris Oifigiúil and shall there and then produce all nomination papers previously duly delivered to him and shall receive all such other nomination papers as shall be duly delivered to him at the said place after ten o'clock in the forenoon and before twelve o'clock noon on the said day.

• (2) Between the hours of ten o'clock in the forenoon and one o'clock in the afternoon on the last day for receiving nominations the Seanad returning officer shall, at the place mentioned in the foregoing sub-section, make such objections as he shall think fit to any nomination paper duly delivered to him and consider such objections to any such nomination paper as shall there and then be made to him by any person lawfully present and shall rule on the validity of every such nomination paper.

• (3) No objection made by the Seanad returning officer himself or to him by any other person to any nomination paper on the ground that the statement therein of the name, address, description, or qualifications of the candidate thereby nominated is insufficient or is not in compliance with this Act shall be allowed or deemed valid unless the same is made before twelve o'clock noon on the last day for receiving nominations.

• (4) The Seanad returning officer shall reject as invalid every nomination paper for a candidate who is shown to his satisfaction before the conclusion of the examination of nomination papers to be dead.

• (5) Every ruling of the Seanad returning officer under this section on the validity of a nomination paper shall, if such ruling is in favour of the validity of the nomination paper, be final and shall, if such ruling is against the validity of the nomination paper, be subject to reversal on petition questioning the election or return.

• (6) Every candidate nominated by a nomination paper and his proposer and seconder and one other person selected by him and no other person whatsoever (other than the Seanad returning officer and his assistants) shall be entitled to be present at the proceedings under this section.

7 Announcement of names of candidates duly nominated.

7.—(1) At one o'clock in the afternoon on the last day for receiving nominations at a Seanad bye-election the Seanad returning officer shall announce the names of the candidates who have been duly and validly nominated and, if the number of such candidates does not exceed the number of vacancies to be filled at such bye-election, shall declare such candidates to have been duly elected at such bye-election and shall certify in writing such election to the Clerk of the Dáil and also to the Clerk of the Seanad

• (2) If at one o'clock in the afternoon on the last day for receiving nominations at a Seanad bye-election the number of candidates who have been duly and validly nominated exceeds the number of vacancies to be filled at such bye-election, the Seanad returning officer shall proceed to take a poll under and in accordance with this Act.

• (3) Whenever the number of candidates duly and validly nominated at a Seanad bye-election exceeds the number of vacancies to be filled at such bye-election, the Seanad returning officer shall as soon as may be after one o'clock in the afternoon on the last day for receiving nominations prepare a list of the candidates so nominated and shall arrange such candidates in such list in the alphabetical order of their surnames and, in the case of candidates having the same surname, the alphabetical order of their other names, and shall state in such list the address and description of each such candidate and his qualifications for membership of Seanad Eireann under Article 30 of the Constitution and the names of his proposer and seconder, and shall send to the Clerk of the Dáil and to the Clerk of the Seanad a copy of such list, and the said Clerks shall respectively communicate to the members of Dáil Eireann and to the members of Seanad Eireann the contents of such list but a failure to communicate or an inaccuracy in the communication of such contents to such members by such Clerks shall not invalidate the nomination of any such candidate nor the said bye-election.

8 Death of candidate during election.

8.—(1) If, after twelve o'clock noon on the last day for receiving nominations and before the commencement of the issue of ballot papers, at a Seanad bye-election at which the Seanad returning officer is required by this Act to take a poll, the Seanad returning officer receives notice of the death of a candidate who was duly and validly nominated at such bye-election, the Seanad returning officer, if satisfied of the fact of such death, shall countermand the poll at such election.

• (2) When the poll at a Seanad bye-election is countermanded under this section, the bye-election order for such bye-election and all proceedings theretofore had under that order shall forthwith become and be null and void and the Minister shall within one week after such countermand make a new bye-election order for such bye-election.

• (3) When the poll at a Seanad bye-election is countermanded and a new bye-election order is made under this section every candidate who stood duly and validly nominated at the time of such countermand (other than the candidate whose death occasioned such countermand) shall without any new nomination be deemed to have been duly and validly nominated at the Seanad bye-election held in pursuance of such new bye-election order unless before twelve o'clock, noon on the last day for receiving nominations under such new bye-election order the Seanad returning officer receives notice and is satisfied of the death of such candidate.

• (4) The following candidates at a Seanad bye-election shall, if elected at such bye-election, be returned as having been so elected and shall (without prejudice to the power of a court of competent jurisdiction to declare their election void) be deemed to have been duly so elected and to vacate their seats immediately after the signing by the Seanad returning officer of his certificate of the names of the candidates elected, that is to say:—

• (a) every elected candidate who is dead at the time of the said signing of the said certificate, and

• (b) every elected candidate who at the time of the said signing of the said certificate is not qualified to be or is disqualified for being a member of Seanad Eireann.

9 Application of portions of the Seanad Electoral Act, 1928.

9.—The following sections of the Seanad Electoral Act, 1928 (No. 29 of 1928), that is to say, sections 8 to 13, section 14 except paragraphs (a), (b), (c), and (d) of sub-section (1) thereof, sections 15 and 16, and also the First and Second Schedules to the said Act shall apply to Seanad bye-elections as fully as if those sections and schedules were re-enacted in this Act with and subject to the following modifications, that is to say:—

• (a) references to Seanad elections shall be construed as references to Seanad bye-elections,

• (b) references to the Seanad returning officer shall be construed as references to the Seanad returning officer appointed under this Act,

• (c) references to the day of issue of ballot papers and to the close of the poll shall be construed as references respectively to the day of issue of ballot papers and the close of the poll appointed under this Act,

• (d) references to the panel of candidates shall be construed as references to the nomination papers of the candidates,

• (e) the word “prescribed” shall be construed as meaning prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act.

10 Regulations.

10.—(1) The Minister may by order make regulations prescribing any matter or thing which is referred to in this Act or in any section or schedule of the Seanad Electoral Act, 1928 (No. 29 of 1928), applied by this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed.

• (2) Every regulation made by the Minister under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if either such House shall, within twenty-one days on which such House has sat after such regulation is laid before it, pass a resolution annulling such regulation, such regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

11 Short title and citation.

11.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Seanad Bye-elections Act, 1930.

• (2) The Seanad Electoral Act, 1928 (No. 29 of 1928) and this Act may be cited together as the Seanad Electoral Acts, 1928 and 1930.