REFERENDUM (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1946

AN ACT TO AMEND THE REFERENDUM ACT, 1942. [4th December, 1946.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Interpretation.

1.—(1) In this Act—

the expression “the Principal Act” means the Referendum Act, 1942 (No. 8 of 1942);

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

• (2) References in this Act to the Principal Act shall be construed as references to the Principal Act as amended by this Act.

• (3) This Act shall be construed as one with the Prinicipal Act.

2 Hours of poll at a referendum.

2.—(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, the poll at a referendum shall commence at the hour of 9 o'clock a.m. and be kept open till the hour of 9 o'clock p.m. and no longer, unless, in the case of a particular referendum, the Minister by order directs that the poll at that referendum shall be kept open until the hour of 9.30 p.m., in which case the poll at that referendum shall be kept open until the hour of 9.30 p.m.

• (2) Whenever the polling day at a constitutional referendum is also the polling day at a general election of members of Dáil Éireann, the hours of poll for the Dáil election shall be the hours of poll at the constitutional referendum.

3 Amendment of First Schedule to the Principal Act.

3.—The First Schedule to the Principal Act is hereby amended in the following respects—

• (a) by the insertion, after Rule 23, of the following Rule—

“23A. The local returning officer for a constituency—

• (a) shall appoint, as the place at which he will open the ballot boxes—

  • (i) in case the constituency consists wholly or partly of a county borough, some place within the county borough, or

  • (ii) in any other case, some place in the constituency, but may, with the consent of the Minister (which shall not be given unless the Minister is satisfied that there is not, within the constituency, any place available and suitable for the counting of the votes), appoint some place outside but convenient to, the constituency,

• (b) shall open the ballot boxes at the place so appointed,

• (c) give to every person nominated under Rule 29 of this Schedule and of whose nomination he receives notice, notice in writing of the place so appointed.”;

• (b) by the substitution of the following Rule for Rule 24—

“24. At the hour of 9 o'clock a.m. on the day after the close of the poll in a constituency and at the place appointed by him under Rule 23A of this Schedule, the local returning officer for that constituency shall commence to open the ballot boxes used at the poll in that constituency, take out the ballot papers therein, count and record the numbers thereof, and then mix together the whole of the ballot papers contained in the said boxes.”;

• (c) by the deletion, in paragraph (1) of Rule 30, of the word “seven” and the substitution therefor of the word “eleven”;

• (d) by the insertion in paragraph (3) of Rule 32, of the words “President and the” before the word “Taoiseach”;

• (e) by the insertion in paragraph (4) of Rule 32, of the words “President and the” before the word “Taoiseach”.

4 Polling cards.

4.—(1) At a referendum, the local returning officer for a constituency shall, subject to subsections (7) and (8) of this section, send by post in accordance with this section to every elector whose name is on the register of Dáil electors for such constituency and is not on the postal voters' list for such constituency a card (in this section referred to as a polling card) in the prescribed form informing such elector of his number (including polling district letter) on such register and of the situation of the polling place in which such elector will be entitled to vote at such referendum.

• (2) Every polling card sent under this section to an elector in any constituency shall be addressed to such elector by the name and at the address by and in respect of which he is registered in the register of Dáil electors for that constituency and shall be sent at such time that it would be delivered in the ordinary course of post at that address not later than the third day before the polling day at the referendum to which it relates.

• (3) Every polling card shall be delivered by the local returning officer to the nearest Head Post Office or such other post office as may be arranged with the Head Postmaster and shall immediately be forwarded without payment of cost by the Head Postmaster or the postmaster of such other post office (as the case may be) for delivery to the person to whom it is addressed.

• (4) The expenses incurred by a local returning officer in complying with this section at a referendum shall be expenses incurred by him for the purposes of such referendum within the meaning of section 12 of the Principal Act, and that section shall apply and have effect accordingly.

• (5) No referendum shall be invalidated by reason of the failure of the local returning officer to send a polling card in accordance with this section to any elector or by reason of the non-delivery of a polling card to any elector or of any error or mis-statement in any polling card sent in pursuance of this section, nor shall any referendum be questioned on the ground of any such failure, non-delivery, error, or mis-statement.

• (6) No action or other proceeding shall lie or be brought against a local returning officer in respect of any error or mis-statement in any polling card so sent by him.

• (7) Whenever the same day is the polling day for two or more referenda, only one polling card shall be sent in respect of all the referenda.

• (8) Whenever the polling day at a constitutional referendum is also the polling day at a general election of members of Dáil Éireann, a separate polling card shall not be sent in respect of the constitutional referendum in any constituency in which there is a contested election at such general election.

5 Appointment of deputy local returning officers.

5.—(1) Where at a referendum the same person is the local returning officer for two or more constituencies, he shall, under Rule 1 of the First Schedule to the Principal Act,—

• (a) in case those constituencies are two and no more, appoint, in respect of one of them, a deputy local returning officer to open the ballot boxes and count the votes,

• (b) in any other case, appoint, in respect of each of the constituencies (except one), a deputy local returning officer to open the ballot boxes and count the votes,

and every deputy local returning officer so appointed in respect of a constituency shall open the ballot boxes and count the votes cast at the referendum in that constituency.

• (2) Where at a referendum the local returning officer for a constituency is prevented by illness or other reasonable cause from conducting the referendum in such constituency, he may, under Rule 1 of the First Schedule to the Principal Act, appoint a deputy local returning officer to carry out all or any of his duties, and any deputy local returning officer so appointed shall carry out the duties for which he is appointed.

• (3) No person shall be appointed a deputy local returning officer under subsection (1) or subsection (2) of this section whose proposed appointment is not approved of by the Minister.

6 Duty of local returning officer to conduct referendum.

6.—Subject to the provisions of subsection (1) of section 5 of this Act, the local returning officer for a constituency shall conduct a referendum in such constituency unless he is prevented from so doing by illness or other reasonable cause sufficient in the opinion of the Minister.

7 Appointment by the Minister of local returning officer.

7.—If the local returning officer for a constituency is prevented by illness or other cause from carrying out all or any of his duties as such officer at a referendum, and if he has not made an appointment under section 5 of this Act or if no arrangement has been made for carrying out his duties as such officer, the Minister may appoint, if he thinks fit, a person to be the local returning officer for such constituency to carry out such duties of the local returning officer as remain to be performed.

8 Emergency provisions in relation to polling on islands.

8.—(1) Where, at a referendum, the polling station (in this subsection referred to as the appointed polling station) for a polling district in any constituency is situate on an island, the local returning officer for that constituency, if he is of opinion that, owing to stress of weather or transport difficulties, either—

• (a) it is probable that polling at the appointed polling station cannot be held on the appointed polling day, or

• (b) it is probable that, if the poll were held on the appointed polling day, the ballot boxes used at the appointed polling station could not reach the appointed place for the opening of the ballot boxes used in that constituency at that referendum at or before the hour of 9 o'clock a.m. on the day next after the appointed polling day,

may give public notice in such polling districts stating his said opinion and setting out the subsequent provisions of this subsection, and thereupon the following provisions shall, notwithstanding anything contained in the Principal Act, have effect—

• (i) the local returning officer may hold the poll at the appointed polling station on the first day, after the fourth day before the appointed polling day, on which in his opinion transport between the island and the mainland is reasonably safe,

• (ii) where owing to transport difficulties the poll at the appointed polling station cannot begin at the hour of 9 o'clock a.m. it shall begin as soon as possible after the said hour,

• (iii) where, after the polling at such polling station has continued for not less than four hours, the presiding officer is of opinion that, if the poll were further continued, the ballot boxes could not be expected to reach the appointed place for the opening of the ballot boxes used in that constituency at that referendum at or before the hour of 9 o'clock a.m. on the day next after the appointed polling day, he may then close the poll,

• (iv) no alteration shall be made in the form or contents of the notice of the poll under Rule 3 of the First Schedule to the Principal Act by reason of the alteration under this subsection of the day and hours of poll in the appointed polling district.

• (2) In this section—

the expression “the appointed polling day” means, in relation to a referendum, the day appointed under subsection (1) of section 8 of the Principal Act, as the day on which polling at that referendum shall take place;

references to the appointed place for the opening of the ballot boxes used in a particular constituency at a particular referendum shall be construed as references to the place, appointed under Rule 23A of the First Schedule to the Principal Act, as the place at which the ballot boxes used in that constituency at that referendum will be opened.

9 Repeal.

9.—The enactment mentioned in the second column of the Schedule to this Act is hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of the said Schedule.

10 Short title and collective citation.

10.—This Act may be cited as the Referendum (Amendment) Act, 1946, and the Principal Act and this Act may be cited together as the Referendum Acts, 1942 and 1946.

SCHEDULE. Enactment Repealed in Part.