Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act , 1937

PART I. Preliminary and General.

1 Short title.

1.—This Act may be cited as the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act, 1937.

2 Commencement.

2.—This Act shall come into operation immediately after the coming into operation of the Constitution of Ireland lately enacted by the people.

3 Definitions.

3.—In this Act—

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

the expression “Seanad election”means so much of a general election of members of Seanad Eireann held in pursuance of Article 18 of the Constitution as relates to the election of those members who are required by the said Article 18 to be elected from panels;

the expression “the first Seanad election” means the first Seanad election held after the commencement of this Act;

the expression “Dáil election” means a general election of members of Dáil Eireann held in consequence of a dissolution of Dáil Eireann;

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

4 The panels.

4.—(1) In this Act—

the word “panel” when used without qualification means a panel of candidates formed in pursuance of sub-section 1 of section 7 of Article 18 of the Constitution;

the expression “the cultural and educational panel” means the panel required by the said sub-section 1 to contain the names of persons having knowledge and practical experience of the following interests and services, namely, the national language and culture, literature, art, education and such professional interests as may be defined by law for the purpose of this panel;

the expression “the agricultural panel” means the panel required by the said sub-section 1 to contain the names of persons having knowledge and practical experience of the following interests and services, namely, agriculture and allied interests, and fisheries;

the expression “the labour panel” means the panel required by the said sub-section 1 to contain the names of persons having knowledge and practical experience of the following interests and services, namely, labour, whether organised; or unorganised;

the expression “the industrial and commercial panel” means the panel required by the said sub-section 1 to contain the names of persons having knowledge and practical experience of the following interests and services, namely, industry and commerce, including banking, finance, accountancy, engineering, and architecture;

the expression “the administrative panel” means the panel required by the said sub-section 1 to contain the names of persons having knowledge and practical experience of the following interests and services, namely, public administration and social services, including voluntary social activities.

(2) The professional interests for the purposes of the cultural and educational panel are hereby defined as—

(a) law, and

(b) medicine, including surgery, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and pharmaceutical chemistry.

5 The Seanad returning officer.

5.—(1) As soon as practicable after the commencement of this Act and from time to time thereafter as occasion requires, the Minister shall appoint a fit and proper person to be the Seanad returning officer for the purposes of this Act.

(2) It shall be the duty of the Seanad returning officer to conduct every Seanad election, to count the votes cast thereat, to ascertain and declare the result thereof in accordance with this Act, and to do such other things in respect of every such election as he is required by this Act to do.

(3) The Minister for Finance shall from time to time prepare a scale of maximum charges for the Seanad returning officer, and the 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 every Seanad election including the preparation of the register of nominating bodies and annual revisions thereof, but not exceeding in any case the maximum charges specified in the said scale of maximum charges for the time being in force.

6 Appointment of days and times.

6.—(1) Before every Seanad election the Minister shall by order appoint for the purpose of such Seanad election—

(a) the day and hour (in this Act referred to as the expiration of the time for general panel nominations) on and at which the period during which the Seanad returning officer may receive nominations to the panels by nominating bodies shall expire;

(b) the day and hour (in this Act referred to as the expiration of the time for Dáil panel nominations) on and at which the period during which the Seanad returning officer may receive nominations to the panels by members of Dáil Eireann shall expire;

(c) the day and hour (in this Act referred to as the expiration of the time for ex-officio nominations) on and at which the period during which the Seanad returning officer may receive ex-officio nominations to the administrative panel shall expire;

(d) the day on which and the place at which the Seanad returning officer will sit for the completion of the panels;

(e) the day (in this Act referred to as the day of issue of ballot papers) on which the ballot papers for the said Seanad election are to be issued and posted to electors;

(f) the day and hour (in this Act referred to as the close of the poll) at which the poll at the said Seanad election is to be closed;

(g) the address of the Seanad returning officer to which applications for registration, nomination papers, and other communications may be sent to him.

(2) In the case of the first Seanad election, the order under this section shall be made as soon as conveniently may be after the commencement of this Act and, in the case of every subsequent Seanad election, the order under this section shall be made within seven days after the dissolution of Dáil Eireann which occasions such Seanad election.

(3) The following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to every order made by the Minister under this section except the order so made for the purposes of the first Seanad election, that is to say:—

(a) the day appointed under this section for the expiration of the time for general panel nominations shall not be less than four weeks after the dissolution of Dáil Eireann and, where practicable, shall not be prior to the date fixed for the reassembly of Dáil Eireann after such dissolution;

(b) the day appointed under this section for the expiration of the time for Dáil panel nominations shall not be less than seven days after the day appointed under this section for the expiration of the time for general panel nominations and, where practicable, shall be subsequent to the date fixed for the said reassembly of Dáil Eireann.

(4) The day appointed by an order under this section for the expiration of the time for ex-officio nominations shall always be subsequent to the day appointed by the same order for the expiration of the time for Dáil panel nominations.

(5) Every order made by the Minister under this section shall be published in the Iris Oifigiúil as soon as may be after it is made.

7 Regulations.

7.—The Minister may make regulations prescribing any matter or thing referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed.

8 Expenses.

8.—All expenses incurred by the Minister in the execution of this Act shall, to such extent as shall be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

PART II. Register of Nominating Bodies.

9 The register of nominating bodies.

9.—(1) A register (in this Act referred to as the register of nominating bodies) of bodies (in this Act referred to as nominating bodies) entitled to nominate persons to the panels of candidates for the purposes of every Seanad election shall be set up and maintained in accordance with this Act.

(2) The following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to the register of nominating bodies, that is to say:—

(a) the said register shall be in such form as the Seanad returning officer shall, with the approval of the Minister, think proper;

(b) no body shall be eligible to be registered in the register in respect of any particular panel (other than the administrative panel) unless its objects and activities relate to or are connected with or it is representative of persons engaged in one or more of the interests and services mentioned in sub-section 1 of section 7 of Article 18 of the Constitution in respect of that particular panel;

(c) no body which is formed or carried on wholly or substantially for profit or which carries on, as its sole or principal function, any trade or business for profit shall be eligible for registration in the said register;

(d) no body which is composed wholly or mainly of persons who are in the employment of the State or of persons who are in the employment of local authorities and the objects of which include the advancement or protection of the interests of such persons in relation to their said employment shall be eligible for registration in the said register;

(e) every body which is registered in the said register shall be so registered in respect of one, and only one, panel;

(f) except as otherwise provided by this sub-section, no body shall be registered in the said register save in pursuance of an application in that behalf made by such body in accordance with this Act;

(g) the following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to the administrative panel, that is to say:—

(i) the Irish County Councils General Council and the Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland shall be registered in the said register in respect of the said panel without any application in that behalf under this Act, and

(ii) no other body shall be registered in the said register in respect of the said panel unless its objects and activities consist, wholly or substantially, of voluntary social services of a charitable or eleemosynary character;

(h) the number of nominating bodies registered in the said register in respect of any particular panel shall be so limited that the full number of persons which may be nominated to such panel by nominating bodies shall not exceed thirty.

(3) Each of the following bodies, and no other body, shall be a local authority for the purposes of this section, that is to say:—

(a) the council of a county, a county or other borough, or an urban district, the commissioners of a town, a municipal corporation and a board of guardians, and

(b) a person who is established by or in pursuance of any statute to perform any of the functions of any of the bodies mentioned in the next preceding paragraph of this sub-section, and

(c) a committee or joint committee of or appointed by any one or more of the bodies mentioned in either of the preceding paragraphs of this sub-section.

10 Applications for registration in the register.

10.—(1) Any body which desires to be registered in the register of nominating bodies in respect of any particular panel and claims to be eligible for registration in that register in respect of that panel may apply for that purpose to the Seanad returning officer in accordance with this section.

(2) The following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to applications for registration in the register of nominating bodies at the preparation of that register in the year 1938, that is to say:—

(a) every such application shall be made in writing on an application paper in the prescribed form provided by the Seanad returning officer;

(b) the Seanad returning officer shall furnish free of charge on request to any body which proposes to apply for registration in the said register an application paper for that purpose;

(c) every such application shall be delivered or sent by post to the Seanad returning officer at his office on or before the 24th day of January, 1938, and no such application which is received at the said office after the said date shall be entertained or considered by the Seanad returning officer;

(d) every such application shall state the panel in respect of which the applicant desires to be registered in the said register and the grounds on which the applicant claims to be eligible to be so registered;

(e) every such application shall also state all such things in relation to the applicant as are indicated in that behalf in the prescribed form of application paper

11 Publication of notice of the preparation of the register.

11.—As soon as practicable after the commencement of this Act, the Seanad returning officer shall publish in every morning daily newspaper published in the State and in such other (if any) daily newspapers as he shall, with the sanction of the Minister, think proper a notice in the prescribed form giving public notice that the register of nominating bodies is being prepared, and giving such information and instructions in relation to applications for such registration as the Minister shall think proper.

12 Preparation of the register.

12.—(1) As soon as practicable after the 24th day of January, 1938, and in any event not later than the 5th day of February, 1938, the Seanad returning officer shall prepare the register of nominating bodies and for that purpose—

(a) shall examine all applications for registration in the said register duly received by him, and

(b) shall disallow all such applications as appear to him to be irregular in form and all applications in respect of which he is of opinion that the applicant is not eligible for registration in the said register either at all or in respect of the panel to which the application relates, and

(c) may disallow any applications which he is authorised by the subsequent provisions of this section to disallow, and

(d) shall allow and register in the said register all such applications as he does not disallow in pursuance of the foregoing provisions of this sub-section.

(2) The Seanad returning officer may require from any applicant for registration in the register of nominating bodies all such information relevant to the registration of such applicant as he shall reasonably require for the determination by him of the allowance or disallowance of the application of such applicant, and the Seanad returning officer may disallow the application of any applicant which fails or refuses to give any information required of it under this section.

(3) It shall be lawful for the Seanad returning officer to disallow an application for registration in the register of nominating bodies made by—

(a) any body which is a branch of or affiliated or subsidiary to a body which is already registered in the said register or whose application for such registration he has allowed, or

(b) any body which appears to him to be representative of interests and services the representation of which is adequately provided for by a body or bodies already registered in the said register or whose application for such registration he has allowed.

(4) The Seanad returning officer may, at his absolute discretion, allow an application for registration in the register of nominating bodies to be amended by the applicant at any time or in any respect.

(5) The three next preceding sub-sections of this section shall apply and have effect in relation to every annual revision of the register of nominating bodies as well as the first preparation of that register.

(6) Not later than the 5th day of February, 1938, the Seanad returning officer shall send by post to every body which applied for registration in the register of nominating bodies (whether its application has been allowed or disallowed) a copy of the said register as prepared by the Seanad returning officer under this section.

(7) Whenever the Seanad returning officer has disallowed an application for registration in the register of nominating bodies he shall, on the request of the body which made such application, furnish to such body a statement of his reasons for such disallowance.

(8) The allowance or disallowance by the Seanad returning officer of any application for registration in the register of nominating bodies shall be final and conclusive, subject only to such appeal as is provided for by this Act.

13 Election of the appeal committee.

13.—(1) As soon as practicable after the commencement of this Act and in any event not later than the fifth day on which Dáil Eireann shall have sat after such commencement, Dáil Eireann shall elect a committee (in this Act referred to as the appeal committee) consisting of fifteen members of Dáil Eireann.

(2) The appeal committee shall be elected by the votes of the members of Dáil Eireann (or of such of them as may think proper to vote) voting on the principles of proportional representation.

(3) Subject to the foregoing provisions of this section, Dáil Eireann shall regulate the procedure for the election of the appeal committee.

(4) The quorum for a meeting of the appeal committee shall be nine members personally present.

(5) Subject to the express provisions of this Act, the appeal committee shall regulate its own procedure.

14 Appeals to the appeal committee.

14.—(1) Any applicant for registration in the register of nominating bodies whose application for such registration has been disallowed by the Seanad returning officer may appeal in accordance with this section to the appeal committee against such disallowance.

(2) Any applicant for registration in the register of nominating bodies in respect of any particular panel (whether its application for such registration has been allowed or has been disallowed by the Seanad returning officer) may appeal in accordance with this section to the appeal committee against the allowance by the Seanad returning officer of the application of any other applicant for such registration in respect of the same panel.

(3) Every appeal under this section to the appeal committee shall be made in writing and shall state the grounds on which the appeal is made and shall be delivered or sent by post to the Clerk of Dáil Eireann on or before the 11th day of February, 1938, and no such appeal which is received by the Clerk of Dáil Eireann after the said date shall be entertained or considered by the appeal committee.

(4) Every appeal under this section shall be open to inspection at all convenient times by the Seanad returning officer.

15 Decision of appeals by the appeal committee.