Electoral (Amendment) Act 2009

PART 1 Preliminary and General

1.. Short title, collective citations and construction.

1.— (1) This Act may be cited as the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2009.

(2) The Electoral Acts 1992 to 2007 and this Act may be cited together as the Electoral Acts 1992 to 2009 and shall be read together as one.

(3) The European Parliament Elections Acts 1992 to 2006 and this Act (in so far as it relates to European Parliament elections) may be cited together as the European Parliament Elections Acts 1992 to 2009 and shall be read together as one.

(4) The Local Elections Acts 1974 to 2006 and this Act (in so far as it relates to local elections) may be cited together as the Local Elections Acts 1974 to 2009 and shall be read together as one.

2.. Interpretation.

2.— (1) In this Act “Local Elections Regulations” means the Local Elections Regulations 1995 (S.I. No. 297 of 1995).

(2) F1[…]

PART 2 Dáil Constituencies and Number of Members

3.. Number of members of Dáil Éireann.

3. — F2[…]

4.. Constituencies.

4.— F3[…]

5.. Number of members to be returned for constituency.

5.— F4[…]

6.. Repeal.

6.— (1) Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 of, and the Schedule to, the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2005 are repealed.

(2) Subsection (1) shall come into operation on the dissolution of Dáil Éireann that next occurs after the passing of this Act.

PART 3 European Parliament Constituencies and Number of Members

7.. Amendment of section 15 of European Parliament Elections Act 1997.

7.— Section 15 of the European Parliament Elections Act 1997 is amended by substituting the following subsection for subsection (3):

“(3) An area specified in the Third Schedule shall be taken to be that area as constituted on 1 March 2008.”.

8.. Substitution of Third Schedule to European Parliament Elections Act 1997.

8.— The European Parliament Elections Act 1997 is amended as respects European elections held after 1 January 2009 by substituting the following Schedule for the Third Schedule to that Act:

Section 15.

“THIRD SCHEDULE

Constituencies

”.

PART 4 Constituency Commission

9.. Substitution of Part II of Electoral Act 1997.

9.— The Electoral Act 1997 is amended by substituting the following Part for Part II:

“PART II

Constituency Commission

Establishment of Constituency Commission.

5.— (1) Upon the publication by the Central Statistics Office, following a Census of Population, of the Census Report setting out the preliminary result of the Census in respect of the total population of the State there shall be established by the Minister, by order, a commission (in this Act referred to as “a Constituency Commission”) to perform the functions assigned to it by this Part.

(2) A Constituency Commission and its members shall be independent in the performance of their functions under this Act.

(3) Every order made under subsection (1) shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made.

Functions of Constituency Commission.

6.— (1) It shall be the function of a Constituency Commission to make a report in relation to the constituencies for—

(a) the election of members to the Dáil, and

(b) the election of members of the European Parliament.

(2) In preparing a report under subsection (1)(a) a Constituency Commission shall, in observing the relevant provisions of the Constitution in relation to Dáil constituencies, have regard to the following:

(a) the total number of members of the Dáil, subject to Article 16.2.2° of the Constitution, shall be not less than 164 and not more than 168;

(b) each constituency shall return 3, 4 or 5 members;

(c) the breaching of county boundaries shall be avoided as far as practicable;

(d) each constituency shall be composed of contiguous areas;

(e) there shall be regard to geographic considerations including significant physical features and the extent of and the density of population in each constituency; and

(f) subject to the provisions of this section, the Commission shall endeavour to maintain continuity in relation to the arrangement of constituencies.

(3) In preparing a report under subsection (1)(b) a Constituency Commission shall have regard to the following:

(a) the total number of members of the European Parliament to be elected in the State shall be 12 or such other number as may be specified for the time being pursuant to the treaties governing the European Communities;

(b) there shall be reasonable equality of representation as between constituencies; and

(c) the matters specified in paragraphs (b) to (f) of subsection (2).

(4) The reference in subsection (2)(c) to county boundaries shall be deemed not to include a reference to the boundary of a city or any boundary between any 2 of the counties of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin.

Membership of Constituency Commission.

7.— A Constituency Commission shall consist of the following members:

(a) (i) a judge of the Supreme Court, or

(ii) following consultation with the President of the High Court, a judge of the High Court,

nominated by the Chief Justice, who shall be the chairperson of the Commission;

(b) the Ombudsman;

(c) the Secretary General of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government;

(d) the Clerk of the Dáil; and

(e) the Clerk of the Seanad.

Provisions in relation to members.

8.— (1) Where, before the reports of a Constituency Commission have been presented to the Chairman of the Dáil under section 9, the person appointed to be chairperson of the Commission—

(a) through ill-health or other reasonable cause becomes unable to act as such chairperson, the Chief Justice shall assign another judge of the Supreme Court or, following consultation with the President of the High Court, another judge of the High Court to be a member and the chairperson of the Commission,

(b) ceases to hold office as a judge of the Supreme Court or of the High Court, the person shall continue as such chairperson until the reports of the Commission have been presented unless the Chief Justice assigns another judge of either court to be a member and the chairperson of the Commission.

(2) Where the holder of an office referred to in paragraphs (b) to (e) of section 7, through ill-health or other reasonable cause, is unable to act as a member of a Constituency Commission or any such office is vacant, the Minister may appoint, in the case of—

(a) the Ombudsman, the Director General of the Office of the Ombudsman,

(b) the Secretary General of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, another officer of the Minister, who is an established civil servant for the purposes of the Civil Service Regulation Acts 1956 to 2005,

(c) the Clerk of the Dáil, the Clerk Assistant of the Dáil, and

(d) the Clerk of the Seanad, the Clerk Assistant of the Seanad,

to be a member of the Commission and the person so appointed shall remain a member of the Commission until the reports of the Commission are presented to the Chairman of the Dáil under section 9.

(3) Where, before the reports of a Constituency Commission have been presented to the Chairman of the Dáil under section 9, a person who is a member of the Commission ceases to hold an office referred to in paragraphs (b) to (e) of section 7, the person shall continue as a member of the Commission until the reports of the Commission have been presented unless the Minister by order directs that the person's successor in office or the appropriate person referred to in subsection (2) shall be a member of the Commission.

(4) Subject to subsections (1), (2) and (3), a Constituency Commission may act notwithstanding vacancies in its membership.

Report of Constituency Commission.

9.— (1) As soon as may be after publication by the Central Statistics Office of the Census Report setting out the final result of the Census referred to in section 5(1) in respect of the total population of the State and, in any event, not later than 3 months after such publication, the Constituency Commission shall present to the Chairman of the Dáil—

(a) a report containing the recommendations of the Commission in relation to the constituencies for the election of members to the Dáil and any alteration of those constituencies which the Commission considers appropriate, and

(b) a report containing the recommendations of the Commission in relation to the constituencies for the election of members of the European Parliament and any alteration of those constituencies which the Commission considers appropriate.

(2) A report of a Constituency Commission under this section may indicate that, in the opinion of the Commission having regard to subsection (2) or (3) of section 6, no alteration is required to be made in the constituencies to which the report relates.

(3) Upon the presentation by a Constituency Commission of the reports to be presented under this section, the Commission shall stand dissolved.

(4) As soon as may be after the receipt of a report of a Constituency Commission, the Chairman of the Dáil shall cause such report to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

Constituency Commission to invite and consider submissions.

10.— (1) A Constituency Commission shall, as soon as may be after its establishment, give public notice of its intention to make a report relating to—

(a) the constituencies for the election of members to the Dáil, and

(b) the constituencies for the election of members of the European Parliament.

(2) As soon as may be after its establishment, a Constituency Commission shall prepare—

(a) a statement setting out the relevant provisions of the Constitution in relation to Dáil constituencies to which the Commission is required to have regard in preparing a report under section 6(1)(a), and

(b) statements based on the population as set out in the Census Report setting out the preliminary result of the Census referred to in section 5(1) in respect of the total population of the State showing, for the constituencies for the time being in force for Dáil and European elections, in relation to each constituency:

(i) the number of members of the Dáil or European Parliament, as the case may be;

(ii) the population of the constituency;

(iii) the population per member of the Dáil or European Parliament, as the case may be, of the constituency; and

(iv) the percentage variation of population per member of the Dáil or European Parliament, as the case may be, of the constituency from the national average population per member.

(3) The public notice referred to in subsection (1) shall indicate that—

(a) the statements prepared by the Constituency Commission under this section shall be made available free of charge by the Commission, to any person wishing to examine them, in such manner as shall be specified in the notice,

(b) any person may make a submission to the Commission in such manner and within such period (which shall be not less than 3 months after the date of the giving of the notice) as shall be specified in the notice, and

(c) submissions received by the Commission in the manner and within the period specified in the notice shall be made available free of charge by the Commission, to any person wishing to examine them, in such manner and within such period as shall be specified in the notice.

(4) The statements prepared by the Constituency Commission, and any submissions received by it, under this section shall be made available free of charge by the Commission, to any person wishing to examine them, in accordance with a public notice referred to in subsection (1).

(5) The Constituency Commission shall consider every submission made to it in accordance with a public notice referred to in subsection (1).

Staff of and assistance to Constituency Commission.

11.— (1) The Minister shall make available to a Constituency Commission such services, including the services of staff, as may reasonably be required by the Commission.

(2) The Director General of the Central Statistics Office and the Chief Executive Officer of Ordnance Survey Ireland shall, on a request being made in that behalf, provide free of charge to a Constituency Commission such assistance as the Commission may reasonably require for the purpose of the performance of its functions.

Expenses of Constituency Commission.

12.— The reasonable expenses of a Constituency Commission, including the travelling and other expenses of the members of the Commission, shall, subject to such conditions as the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance may determine, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

Procedure of Constituency Commission.

13.— Subject to the provisions of this Act, a Constituency Commission shall regulate its own procedure.

Prohibition on disclosure of information.

14.— (1) No person shall, without the consent of a Constituency Commission, disclose to any person any information obtained while serving as (or during service as) a member of the Commission or as a person whose services are made available to the Commission under section 11 relative to the business of the Commission or the performance of the functions of the Commission.

(2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €5,000.

Prohibition of certain co-mmunications.

15.— (1) Subject to the provisions of section 10, it shall not be lawful for any person to communicate with the members of or staff whose services are made available to a Constituency Commission under section 11 for the purposes of influencing the Commission in carrying out its functions.

(2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €5,000.”.

PART 5 European Parliament Elections

10.. Substitution of sections 12 and 13 of European Parliament Elections Act 1997.

10.— The European Parliament Elections Act 1997 is amended by substituting the following sections for sections 12 and 13:

“Nomination of candidates and replacement candidates.

12.— (1) At a European election a person may nominate himself or herself as a candidate or may, with his or her consent, be nominated by another person (being a person registered as a European elector in the constituency for which the person proposes to nominate the candidate) as proposer.

(2) In the case of a candidate whose candidature is not authenticated by a certificate of political affiliation under rule 5(3) of the Second Schedule, one or other of the following paragraphs shall, before the expiration of the time appointed by this Act for receiving nominations, be complied with:

(a) the candidate’s nomination shall have been assented to by 60 persons (excluding the candidate and any proposer) who are registered as European electors in the constituency (each of whom in this Act is referred to as an ‘assentor’);

(b) the candidate, or someone on his or her behalf, shall have made a deposit in accordance with section 13.

(3) The following provisions apply in respect of the assents required by subsection (2)(a) to the nomination of a candidate referred to in that subsection:

(a) to assent to the nomination, an assentor shall make a statutory declaration in the prescribed form stating the following:

(i) his or her number (including polling district letters) on the register of European electors in force on the date of the making of the statutory declaration;

(ii) his or her place of ordinary residence in respect of which he or she is registered in the register of European electors referred to in subparagraph (i);

(iii) his or her contact details, including telephone numbers (if any);

(iv) the name of the European Parliament constituency, on the date of the making of the statutory declaration, in which he or she is ordinarily resident;

(v) the name and address of the candidate;

(vi) the form of identification produced by him or her in accordance with paragraph (b), including any number on it that distinguishes it from similar forms held by others;

(vii) that he or she assents to the nomination of the candidate;

(viii) that he or she has not assented to the nomination of any other candidate in respect of that European election;

(b) when making the statutory declaration referred to in paragraph (a), the assentor shall produce to the person taking and receiving the declaration a prescribed photographic identification and shall, on so doing, be deemed, for the purposes of the Statutory Declarations Act 1938, to be personally known to the person taking and receiving the declaration;

(c) the assent shall have effect as respects, and only as respects, the European Parliament constituency in which the place referred to in paragraph (a)(ii) is situate at the time of the European election concerned;

(d) subject to paragraph (e), the assent shall have effect as respects, and only as respects, the European election in the constituency referred to in paragraph (c) held next after the making of the statutory declaration;

(e) notwithstanding paragraph (d), the assent shall cease to have effect if the register of European electors referred to in paragraph (a) ceases to be in force before the holding of the European election referred to in paragraph (d);

(f) the candidate or proposer shall attach the required number of statutory declarations (that is to say, the 60 statutory declarations constituting the assents) to the nomination paper and the nomination paper delivered to the returning officer in accordance with rule 11 of the Second Schedule shall have the declarations so attached;

(g) where more than the required number of statutory declarations is attached to the nomination paper, the declarations (up to the required number) first attached to the nomination paper shall be taken into account to the exclusion of any others;

(h) it shall be lawful for a member of the Garda Síochána or an official of the registration authority to take and receive a statutory declaration referred to in paragraph (a) and any such declaration shall be stamped by the member or official concerned;