Chapter II.

Nominating Bodies Sub-panel Casual Vacancies.

59. —Where the Minister makes a Seanad bye-election order in respect of a casual vacancy in the membership of Seanad Éireann which is stated in the order to be a vacancy in respect of the nominating bodies sub-panel of a particular panel, a meeting (in this Act referred to as a nomination committee (bye-election) meeting) of the nomination committee for the said panel shall be held on the day and at the place and hour appointed in that behalf by the order and, at least seven days before the meeting, the Seanad returning officer shall send by post to each person named in the electoral roll constituted under section 60 of this Act for the meeting a notice in the prescribed form with respect to the holding of the meeting.

60. —(1) Where a nomination committee (bye-election) meeting is to be held, the Seanad returning officer shall prepare, from the register under section 21 of this Act, a list stating the names, addresses and descriptions of the members of the nomination committee and the list shall be the electoral roll for the purposes of the meeting and shall be final and conclusive.

(2) The several persons named in the electoral roll constituted under this section for a nomination committee (bye-election) meeting (and no other person) shall be entitled to vote at the poll (if any) at the meeting.

(3) The death of a person named in an electoral roll constituted under this section shall not prejudice or affect the validity or operation of the electoral roll.

61. —The following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to every nomination committee (bye-election) meeting:

(a) the Seanad returning officer shall preside at the meeting and shall conduct the proceedings thereof;

(b) the proceedings shall commence at the time appointed for the meeting by the relevant Seanad bye-election order if there is then a quorum or, if there is not then a quorum, when there is a quorum;

(c) the Seanad returning officer and his assistants and the persons named in the electoral roll constituted for the meeting under section 60 of this Act, and no other person, may be present at the meeting;

(d) each, member of the nomination committee attending the meeting shall, when or as soon as may be after he enters the meeting, sign his name in a book or other record (to be provided and kept by the Seanad returning officer) of attendances;

(e) the Seanad returning officer shall provide a sufficient number of the prescribed nomination forms and shall make such forms available to the members of the nomination committee present;

(f) any member of the nomination committee present may, at any time within one hour after the commencement of the proceedings, nominate a person for election;

(g) a nomination shall be made on a prescribed nomination form supplied by the Seanad returning officer and shall be signed by the member making the nomination and shall be handed by him to the Seanad returning officer;

(h) a nomination shall state the name, address, and description of the person thereby nominated and include a statement of his qualifications for the panel for which such nomination committee is the nomination committee;

(i) the Seanad returning officer shall reject any nomination which appears to him not to be made and completed in accordance with this section;

(j) any nomination may, at any time within one hour after the commencement of the proceedings, be withdrawn by the member who made it;

(k) the withdrawal of a nomination shall be affected by the member concerned endorsing on the nomination paper (which shall be handed to him for the purpose by the Seanad returning officer) a signed statement of withdrawal;

(l) the Seanad returning officer shall make every nomination accepted by him and every withdrawal of a nomination available for the inspection of the members of the nomination committee present;

(m) if, at the expiration of one hour from the commencement of the proceedings, two or more persons have been duly nominated, the Seanad returning officer shall, at such expiration, adjourn the meeting to a convenient time and place (whether on the same or a subsequent day) in order to take a poll for the purpose of selecting one of those persons;

(n) if, at the expiration of one hour from the commencement of the proceedings, one person and no more has been duly nominated, the meeting shall terminate at the expiration of the said hour and the Seanad returning officer shall make and sign a certificate of provisional election in accordance with the subsequent provisions of this Chapter;

(o) if, at the expiration of one hour from the commencement of the proceedings, no person has been duly nominated, the meeting shall terminate at the expiration of the said hour and the Seanad returning officer shall report the fact and the circumstances of such termination to the Minister.

62. —When a nomination committee (bye-election) meeting has been adjourned for the purpose of taking a poll, the Seanad returning officer shall take the poll in accordance with the following provisions:

(a) the poll shall be taken on the day and at the time and place to which such meeting was adjourned, and shall be deemed to be a continuation of such meeting;

(b) the Seanad returning officer shall make available at the said place a suitable room for taking the poll and shall provide therein such ballot boxes, desks, and other furniture as he considers necessary and shall also provide a sufficient number of ballot papers;

(c) the Seanad returning officer and his assistants and the persons named in the electoral roll constituted for such meeting under section 60 of this Act, and no other person, may be present at the taking of the poll;

(d) at the said time to which such meeting was adjourned the Seanad returning officer shall open the poll and at the expiration of one hour from that time he shall close the poll;

(e) a person shall not be entitled to receive a ballot paper unless or until he has, either at the meeting before the adjournment thereof or at the taking of the poll, signed his name in a book or other record (to be provided and kept by the Seanad returning officer) of attendances;

(f) a person in giving his vote must place on the ballot paper the figure 1 opposite the name of the person for whom he votes, and he may in addition place on the ballot paper the figures 2 and 3, or 2, 3, and 4, and so on opposite the names of other persons in the order of his preference;

(g) any ballot paper—

(i) on which the figure 1 standing alone is not placed at all or is not so placed as to indicate a first preference, or

(ii) on which the figure 1 standing alone indicating a first preference is set opposite more than one name, or

(iii) on which the figure 1 standing alone indicating a first preference and some other number is set opposite a name,

shall be invalid and shall not be counted;

(h) the Seanad returning officer shall take all such steps as he considers proper or expedient for preserving the secrecy of the voting at the poll;

(i) every question which arises at or in relation to the taking of the poll shall be decided by the Seanad returning officer and his decision on any such question shall be final and unappealable;

(j) at the close of the poll, the Seanad returning officer shall ascertain, in accordance with this Act and, in particular, the rules contained in the Second Schedule to this Act, the result of the poll and shall announce such result to the candidates then present (if any);

(k) the Seanad returning officer and his assistants and the candidates (or their duly appointed representatives), and no other person, shall be entitled to be present at the ascertainment of the result of the poll.

63. —(1) If, at the expiration of one hour from the commencement of the proceedings at a nomination committee (bye-election) meeting, one person and no more has been duly nominated, the Seanad returning officer shall make and sign a certificate (in this Act referred to as a certificate of provisional election) in the prescribed form stating the name, address and description of such person.

(2) If a nomination committee (bye-election) meeting is adjourned for the purpose of taking a poll, the Seanad returning officer, shall when the counting of the votes at the poll has been completed, make and sign a certificate (in this Act also referred to as a certificate of provisional election) in the prescribed form stating the name, address and description of the person selected at the poll.

(3) The Seanad returning officer shall publish in the Iris Oifigiúil every certificate of provisional election made and signed by him in pursuance of this section and shall at the same time publish in the Iris Oifigiúil a notice stating the day and place appointed by the relevant Seanad bye-election order for the ruling upon nomination.

(4) A certificate of provisional election made, signed and published in pursuance of this section shall be conclusive evidence that the person named in the certificate was duly nominated at the nomination (bye-election) meeting to which it relates and either (as the case may be) that he was the only person so nominated or, if such meeting was adjourned for the purpose of taking a poll, that the poll was duly and properly taken and that such person was selected at the poll.

(5) The Seanad returning officer shall, during the period beginning on the day after the completion of a certificate of provisional election under subsection (2) of this section and ending on the day before the day of the ruling upon nomination, hold the nomination papers which he accepted available for inspection by candidates between the hours of 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on weekdays.

64. —(1) Where a Seanad bye-election order relates to a nominating bodies sub-panel casual vacancy, the Seanad returning officer shall, at eleven o'clock in the morning on the day appointed by such order for the ruling upon nomination, attend at the place similarly appointed and then and there hold a sitting (in this Act referred to as the ruling upon nomination) at which he shall rule upon the nomination stated in the certificate of provisional election.

(2) The following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to every ruling upon nomination held in pursuance of this section:

(a) the Seanad returning officer shall produce the nomination paper handed to him at the nomination committee (bye-election) meeting of the person named in the certificate of provisional election;

(b) the Seanad returning officer shall consider and rule upon the validity of the nomination paper and the nomination purported to be made thereby;

(c) the Seanad returning officer shall reject the nomination as invalid if he rules that the nomination paper or the nomination purported to be made thereby is invalid or if he is not satisfied that such person possesses the qualifications stated in subsection 1° of section 7 of Article 18 of the Constitution in respect of the panel mentioned in the relevant Seanad bye-election order;

(d) when the Seanad returning officer has ruled upon the nomination—

(i) if he rejects the nomination, he shall so report to the Minister,

(ii) if he does not reject the nomination, the person nominated shall be deemed to be elected to fill the casual vacancy in the membership of Seanad Éireann mentioned in the relevant Seanad (bye-election) order.

65. —(1) Where the Seanad returning officer reports to the Minister—

(a) that a nomination committee bye-election meeting has terminated because no person has been duly nominated thereat, or

(b) that he has rejected a nomination at a ruling upon nomination held in pursuance of this Chapter,

the Seanad bye-election order in pursuance of which such meeting or ruling was held and all proceedings had in pursuance of such order shall become and be null and void and such order shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act never to have been made, and the Minister shall make a new Seanad bye-election order in lieu thereof.

(2) A new Seanad bye-election order made under subsection (1) of this section shall be a Seanad bye-election order within the meaning and for the purposes of this Act and this Act (including this section) shall apply and have effect in relation thereto, save that the time within which the Minister shall make such new Seanad bye-election order shall be whichever of the following periods later expires, that is to say, one hundred and eighty days after he receives the relevant notice of a casual vacancy from the Clerk of Seanad Éireann or sixty days after he receives the report mentioned in the said subsection (1) from the Seanad returning officer.

(3) The annulment of a Seanad bye-election order by virtue of this section shall not prejudice or affect the right of the Seanad returning officer to be paid under this Act his reasonable charges in respect of duties performed in pursuance of such order.