PART II.

The Register of Nominating Bodies.

8. —(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 purpose of every Seanad general election shall be established and maintained in accordance with this Act.

(2) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to the register of nominating bodies:

(a) the register shall be in such form as the Seanad returning officer thinks proper;

(b) a body shall not be eligible to be registered in the register in respect of any particular panel unless either—

(I) (i) its objects primarily relate to or are connected with the interests and services mentioned in subsection 1° of section 7 of Article 18 of the Constitution in respect of that particular panel, and

(ii) its activities are concerned mainly with such interests and services, or

(II) its members are representative of persons who have knowledge and practical experience of such interests and services;

(c) a 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 not be eligible for registration in the register;

(d) the Seanad returning officer may refuse to register any body (not being an excepted body) in the register unless—

(I) its organisation and direction are governed by articles of association, rules or other regulations which—

(i) provide for an annual general meeting to which all members are invited by a notice forwarding an agenda including the following items, that is to say, minutes of preceding meeting, presentation of annual report, consideration of statement of accounts as certified by the auditor, election of executive committee, election of auditors,

(ii) make adequate provision for the carrying on of the business of the body by an executive committee, and

(iii) provide for the audit and certification of accounts by a public auditor or other qualified person, and

(II) its average annual revenue from subscriptions during the five years immediately preceding the application for registration has been, in the case of a charitable body, not less than one thousand pounds or, in any other case, not less than two hundred and fifty pounds,

but subject to the proviso that the requirements set out in this paragraph as to election of auditors, provision for audit and annual revenue shall not apply in the case of such bodies engaged in the promotion of scientific or general knowledge as in the opinion of the Seanad returning officer are of national importance;

(e) a 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 not be eligible for registration in the register;

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

(g) except as otherwise provided by this subsection, a body shall not be registered in the register save in pursuance of an application in that behalf made by such body in accordance with this Act;

(h) the Irish County Councils General Council and the Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland shall be registered in the register in respect of the administrative panel without application, and no other body shall be registered in the register in respect of that panel unless its objects and activities consist, wholly or substantially, of voluntary social services of a charitable or eleemosynary character.

(3) In paragraph (d) of subsection (2) of this section the expression “excepted body” means a body which is—

(a) a body established under an Act of the Oireachtas for any of the following purposes:

(i) the regulation or control of professional qualifications or conduct.

(ii) the provision or improvement of cultural or educational facilities; or

(b) a cultural, educational or professional organisation in receipt of a grant voted specifically for it by the Oireachtas.

(4) Each of the following bodies, and no other body, shall be a local authority for the purposes of this section:

(a) the council of a county, the corporation of a county or other borough, the council of an urban district, the commissioners of a town or a public assistance authority,

(b) a committee or joint committee of or appointed by any one or more of the bodies mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection.

9. —(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 have effect in relation to applications for registration in the register of nominating bodies at the preparation of that register:

(a) an 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 an application paper for that purpose;

(c) an application shall be delivered or sent by post to the Seanad returning officer at his office on or before the date specified in that behalf in the notice published under section 10 of this Act and any application which is received at that office after that date shall not be entertained or considered by the Seanad returning officer;

(d) an application shall state the panel in respect of which the applicant desires to be registered and the grounds on which the applicant claims to be eligible to be registered;

(e) an 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.

10. —As soon as practicable after the passing 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, with the sanction of the Minister, he thinks proper, a notice in the prescribed form giving public notice that the register of nominating bodies is being prepared, and giving such information (including the latest date for receipt of applications for registration) and instructions in relation to applications for registration as the Minister thinks proper.

11. —(1) As soon as practicable after the day prescribed for this section, and in any event not later than fourteen days thereafter, the Seanad returning officer shall prepare the register of nominating bodies and for that purpose—

(a) shall examine all applications for registration duly received by him,

(b) shall disallow every application which appears to him to be irregular in form and every application as respects which the applicant fails to satisfy him that the applicant is eligible for registration in respect of the panel to which the application relates,

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

(d) shall allow all such applications as he does not disallow in pursuance of the foregoing provisions of this subsection.

(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 the applicant as he reasonably requires for the determination by him of the allowance or disallowance of the application, 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 any body which is a branch of or affiliated or subsidiary to a body which is already registered in the register or whose application for such registration he has allowed.

(4) Subsections (2) and (3) of this section shall have effect in relation to every annual revision of the register of nominating bodies as well as in relation to the first preparation of that register.

(5) Not later than fourteen days after the day prescribed for this section, 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 register as prepared by the Seanad returning officer under this section.

(6) Where 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 the application, furnish to the body a statement of his reasons for the disallowance.

(7) Where the Seanad returning officer has disallowed under this section an application for registration in the register of nominating bodies because the applicant has failed to satisfy him that the applicant is eligible for registration in respect of the panel to which the application relates, a statement to that effect by the Seanad returning officer shall, for the purposes of subsection (6) of this section, be a sufficient statement of the reasons for the 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.

12. —(1) There shall be a board (in this Act referred to as the appeal board) to hear appeals from decisions of the Seanad returning officer under this Part of this Act.

(2) The appeal board shall consist of five members, namely:—

(a) a chairman, who shall be a judge of the Supreme Court or the High Court nominated by the Chief Justice,

(b) the Chairman of Dáil Eireann,

(c) the Deputy-Chairman of Dáil Eireann,

(d) the Chairman of Seanad Eireann,

(e) the Deputy-Chairman of Seanad Eireann.

(3) The quorum for a meeting of the appeal board shall be three.

(4) The appeal board may act notwithstanding any vacancy thereon.

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

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

(2) Any applicant for registration in the register of nominating bodies on the preparation thereof in respect of any particular panel (whether its application for registration has been allowed or has been disallowed by the Seanad returning officer) may appeal in accordance with this section to the appeal board 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) An appeal under this section to the appeal board 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 day prescribed for this section, and any such appeal which is received by the Clerk of Dáil Eireann after that day shall not be entertained or considered by the appeal board.

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

14. —(1) The appeal board shall consider every appeal duly made under section 13 of this Act and shall, in respect of each such appeal, either reverse the decision of the Seanad returning officer which is the subject of the appeal or disallow the appeal.

(2) The appeal board shall, when considering an appeal made under section 13 of this Act, consider—

(a) the grounds for the appeal stated pursuant to subsection (3) of that section, and no other grounds, and

(b) such information (if any) as was made available to the Seanad returning officer, and no other information.

(3) A decision of the Seanad returning officer shall not be reversed under this section by the appeal board unless a majority of the members present are in favour of the reversal.

(4) The Seanad returning officer shall give to the appeal board such information and assistance in relation to every appeal considered pursuant to this section as the Board may reasonably require of him.

(5) The decision of the appeal board on any appeal considered pursuant to this section shall be final and conclusive.

15. —(1) If no appeal under section 13 of this Act is duly made to the appeal board, the Clerk of Dáil Eireann shall, on the day prescribed for this section inform the Seanad returning officer of that fact and the Seanad returning officer shall thereupon sign and publish in the Iris Oifigiúil the register of nominating bodies prepared by him under the foregoing provisions of this Act.

(2) If any appeal is duly made under section 13 of this Act to the appeal board, the board shall communicate to the Seanad returning officer their decision (if any) on every such appeal and the Seanad returning officer shall thereupon make such (if any) amendment in the register of nominating bodies prepared by him under the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act as may be necessary to give effect to such decision and, when all such appeals have been decided and the decisions (if any) thereon have been communicated to and dealt with by the Seanad returning officer, the Seanad returning officer shall sign the register of nominating bodies as so prepared and amended (if at all) by him as aforesaid and shall publish it in the Iris Oifigiúil as soon as conveniently may be.

(3) The register of nominating bodies as published in the Iris Oifigiúil in pursuance of this section shall be final and conclusive and shall not be open to review by any court and shall be in force for the first Seanad general election held after it is first published and every subsequent Seanad general election, subject only to such annual revision as is provided by this Act.

16. —(1) The Seanad returning officer shall, on or after the 1st, but not later than the 15th day of January in the year after the year of the preparation of the register of nominating bodies and in every subsequent year, publish in every morning daily newspaper published in the State and in such other (if any) daily newspapers as, with the sanction of the Minister, he thinks proper a notice in the prescribed form giving public notice that, on the 15th day of February next following or, if that day is a Sunday, the 16th day of February next following, the Seanad returning officer will proceed to revise the register of nominating bodies, and giving such information and instructions in relation to applications for insertion, deletion, or amendment of entries in that register as the Minister thinks proper.

(2) Any body not registered in the register of nominating bodies, which desires to be registered in respect of any particular panel in that register and claims to be eligible for such registration, and any body registered in that register which desires to be removed therefrom, or desires that the entry in respect of it in that register should be amended in any way, may make application in the prescribed form to the Seanad returning officer during the period beginning on the 15th day of January and ending on the 15th day of February in the year after the year of the preparation of the register of nominating bodies or in any subsequent year, for such registration, deletion, or amendment, as the case may be.

(3) On the 15th day of February or, if that day is a Sunday, on the 16th day of February in the year after the year of the preparation of the register of nominating bodies and in every subsequent year the Seanad returning officer shall revise (in this Act referred to as an annual revision) the register of nominating bodies by:—

(a) registering in the register all bodies which have duly applied under this section for registration at such annual revision and whose application he does not disallow,

(b) deleting from the register the registration of every body which appears to him to have ceased to exist or to have ceased to be eligible for registration or the deletion of which from the register appears to him to be necessary and proper in consequence of the allowance of the application of another body for registration, and

(c) making all such amendments in the register as appear to him, by virtue of applications under this section or otherwise to be requisite or proper.

(4) The Seanad returning officer shall disallow every application under this section which appears to him to be irregular in form and every application under this section for registration in respect of a panel as respects which the applicant fails to satisfy him that the applicant is eligible for such registration.

(5) The Seanad returning officer may make such inquiries as he thinks proper for the purpose of any annual revision of the register of nominating bodies and may, at any annual revision, make all such deletions from and amendments of the register of nominating bodies as appear to him, in consequence of such inquiries, to be requisite or proper, but the Seanad returning officer shall not make any such deletion or amendment without giving notice thereof to the body affected thereby or without giving such body a reasonable opportunity of making representations in regard thereto.

(6) Every allowance or disallowance by the Seanad returning officer of any application under this section for registration in, deletion from, or amendment of the register of nominating bodies, and every deletion from or amendment of that register made by the Seanad returning officer at an annual revision otherwise than on an application under this section, shall be final and conclusive, subject only to such appeal as is provided for by this Act.

17. —(1) Not later than the 1st day of March in the year after the year of the preparation of the register of nominating bodies and in every subsequent year, the Seanad returning officer shall—

(a) inform every body which applied for registration in, deletion from, or amendment of the register of nominating bodies at the annual revision in that year whether he allowed or disallowed the application and, in the case of disallowance, his reasons therefor, and

(b) communicate to every body affected by a deletion from or amendment of the register of nominating bodies made by him at the annual revision in that year otherwise than on an application by such body the particulars of such deletion or amendment and his reasons therefor.

(2) Any of the following persons may appeal to the appeal board against such of the decisions of the Seanad returning officer at an annual revision as are hereinafter specified, that is to say:—

(a) in the case of a disallowance of an application, the body by which the application was made,

(b) in the case of an allowance of an application for registration, any nominating body registered in the register of nominating bodies, and any body which applied at the annual revision for registration in that register, whether the application was allowed or disallowed,

(c) in the case of a deletion from or amendment of the register of nominating bodies made by the Seanad returning officer otherwise than on an application under this Act, the body affected by the deletion or amendment.

(3) An appeal under this section to the appeal board 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 15th day of March in the year in which the decision appealed against was given.

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

(5) Where the Seanad returning officer has disallowed under section 16 of this Act an application for registration in respect of a panel because the applicant has failed to satisfy him that the applicant is eligible for such registration, a statement to that effect shall, for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section, be a sufficient statement of the reasons for the disallowance.

(6) Where the Seanad returning officer has deleted under section 16 of this Act the registration of a body on the ground that the body has ceased to be eligible for such registration, a statement to that effect shall, for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section, be a sufficient statement of the grounds for the deletion.

18. —(1) The appeal board shall consider every appeal duly made to it unnder section 17 of this Act and shall, in respect of each such appeal, either reverse the decision of the Seanad returning officer which is the subject of the appeal or disallow the appeal.

(2) The appeal board shall, when considering an appeal made under section 17 of this Act, consider—

(a) the grounds for the appeal stated pursuant to subsection (3) of that section, and no other grounds, and

(b) such information (if any) as was made available to the Seanad returning officer, and no other information.

(3) A decision of the Seanad returning officer shall not be reversed under this section by the appeal board unless a majority of the members present are in favour of the reversal.

(4) The Seanad returning officer shall give to the appeal board such information and assistance in relation to every appeal considered in pursuance of this section as the board may reasonably require of him.

(5) The decision of the appeal board on any appeal considered in pursuance of this section shall be final and conclusive.

19. —(1) Not later than the 20th day of March in the year after the year of the preparation of the register of nominating bodies and in every subsequent year, the Seanad returning officer shall revise the register of nominating bodies in such manner as may be requisite to give effect to all decisions given by him at the annual revision in that year against which no appeal to the board has been made within the time limited in that behalf by this Act, and every revision so made shall come into force on the 21st day of March of the year in which it is made.

(2) The Clerk of Dáil Eireann shall communicate to the Seanad returning officer every decision by the appeal board on an appeal considered pursuant to section 18 of this Act, and the Seanad returning officer shall forthwith make such (if any) revision of the register of nominating bodies as is necessary to give effect to such decision, and every such revision shall come into force on the day after the day on which it is made.

(3) As soon as any annual revision of the register of nominating bodies has been completed in accordance with this Part of this Act, the Seanad returning officer shall sign and publish in the Iris Oifigiúil the register as revised at the annual revision and the register as so published shall be conclusive evidence of the alterations made in the register at the annual revision.

20. —(1) Every body which appeals to the appeal board shall pay to the Clerk of Dáil Eireann a fee of twenty pounds, and the payment of the fee before the expiration of the time limited by this Act for sending or delivering the appeal to the Clerk of Dáil Eireann shall be a condition precedent to the entertainment of the appeal by the appeal board.

(2) Every fee paid to the Clerk of Dáil Eireann in pursuance of this section shall be retained by him until the appeal in respect of which the fee was paid has been decided by the appeal board and—

(a) if the appeal board reverses the decision of the Seanad returning officer which is the subject of the appeal, the Clerk of Dáil Eireann shall forthwith repay the fee to the appellant by whom it was paid to him, and

(b) in every other case, the Clerk of Dáil Eireann shall pay the fee into, or dispose of it for the benefit of, the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance directs.

(3) The Public Offices (Fees) Act, 1879, shall not apply in respect of fees payable under this section.