Next (SCHEDULE. Constituencies.)

33 1959

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Number 33 of 1959.


ELECTORAL (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1959.


ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

Section

1.

Definitions.

2.

Number of members of Dáil Éireann.

3.

Constituencies.

4.

Number of members to be returned by constituency.

5.

Re-election of outgoing Ceann Comhairle.

6.

Title page of electors list, etc.

7.

Returning officers and assistant returning officers.

8.

Repeal.

9.

Short title, construction and collective citation.

SCHEDULE

Constituencies


Acts Referred to

Electoral (Chairman of Dáil Éireann) Act, 1937

1937, No. 25

Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1947

1947, No, 31

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Number 33 of 1959.


ELECTORAL (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1959.


AN ACT TO FIX THE NUMBER OF MEMBERS OF DAIL EIREANN AND TO REVISE THEIR CONSTITUENCIES AND TO AMEND THE LAW RELATING TO THE ELECTION OF SUCH MEMBERS. [26th November, 1959.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

Definitions.

1. —In this Act—

the Minister” means the Minister for Local Government;

the Principal Act” means the Electoral Act, 1923 (No. 12 of 1923).

Number of members of Dáil Éireann.

2. —Dáil Éireann shall, after the dissolution thereof which next occurs after the passing of this Act, consist of One Hundred and Forty-four members.

Constituencies.

3. —(1) The members of Dáil Éireann shall, after the dissolution of Dáil Éireann which next occurs after the passing of this Act, represent the constituencies specified in the Schedule to this Act.

(2) A constituency specified in Part I of the Schedule to this Act shall be a borough constituency and a constituency specified in Part II thereof shall be a county constituency.

(3) An area specified in the Schedule to this Act shall be taken to be that area as constituted on the 1st day of January, 1959, but if any doubt arises as to the constituency in which any townland or part thereof, or any road or street or part thereof, is included, the doubt shall be determined by the Minister.

(4) In the Schedule to this Act—

(a) a reference to a line drawn along any road, street or railway shall, save where the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to a line drawn along the middle of the road, street or railway,

(b) a reference to a point at which any road or street intersects, cuts, meets, joins, crosses, reaches, leaves or departs from any road or street shall, save where the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to the point at which a line drawn along the middle of the one and a line drawn along the middle of the other would intersect when prolonged.

Number of members to be returned by constituency.

4. —A constituency specified in the Schedule to this Act shall return the number of members set out in respect thereof in the third column of that Schedule.

Re-election of outgoing Ceann Comhairle.

5. —For the purposes of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 3 of the Electoral (Chairman of Dáil Éireann) Act, 1937 , the constituency of Clare specified in the Schedule to this Act is hereby declared to correspond to the constituency of Clare specified in the Schedule to the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1947 .

Title page of electors list, etc.

6. —The title page of every electors list, list of claimants, list of objections and register of electors, prepared under the First Schedule to the Principal Act after the 31st day of January, 1960, and before the dissolution of the Oireachtas which next occurs after that day, for a registration unit in a constituency existing on that day which is not identical in area and name with a constituency specified in the Schedule to this Act, shall show the name of the constituency specified in the Schedule to this Act in which such registration unit will be situate as well as the name of the said existing constituency in which it is situate on that day.

Returning officers and assistant returning officers.

7. —(1) The returning officer for a constituency specified in the Schedule to this Act shall be—

(a) in case the whole of the constituency is situate in a county or county borough for which there is a sheriff—the sheriff,

(b) in case part of the constituency is situate in a county borough and part in a county and there is a sheriff for the county borough and a sheriff for the county—either the sheriff for the county borough or the sheriff for the county as the Minister by order appoints from time to time,

(c) in any other case—the county registrar or, where part of the constituency has one county registrar and part another county registrar, such one of the county registrars as the Minister by order appoints from time to time.

(2) A county registrar or sheriff for a county who is the returning officer for a constituency part of which is situate in the county and the other part of which is situate in another county or a county borough, or a county registrar or sheriff for a county borough who is the returning officer for a constituency part of which is situate in the county borough and the other part in a county, may appoint the appropriate officer, and shall appoint him if he so requires, to be assistant returning officer for the other part of the constituency.

In this subsection, “the appropriate officer” means—

(a) in case there is a sheriff for the other part of the constituency—the sheriff,

(b) in any other case—the county registrar for the other part of the constituency.

(3) The duties of an assistant returning officer shall be the performance, in the part of a constituency for which he was appointed, of such of the duties of the returning officer for the constituency as that officer is not required by law to perform in person, but if any doubt arises as to the duties of an assistant returning officer, the doubt shall be determined by the Minister.

Repeal.

8. —(1) The Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1947 , is hereby repealed.

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

Short title, construction and collective citation.

9. —(1) This Act may be cited as the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1959.

(2) The Electoral Acts, 1923 to 1946, and this Act shall be construed together as one Act.

(3) The Electoral Acts, 1923 to 1946, and this Act may be cited together as the Electoral Acts, 1923 to 1959.