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Legislation

Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2009

 
The Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2009 was enacted on 25th March 2009. 
The purpose of this Act is to amend the Local Elections (Disclosure of Donations and Expenditure) Act 1999 to provide for:

  • the introduction of spending limits on expenditure by candidates and political parties at local elections, and
  • administration and oversight of the scheme by local authorities as an extension of their current statutory responsibilities in relation to the existing arrangements for disclosure of donations and expenditure at local elections.


The Act provides that for the 34 County and City Councils, a sliding scale with four separate limits, based on the population within each individual electoral area, applies. A top limit of €15,000 applies in the most populated areas, with limits of €13,000, €11,500 and €9,750 applying to candidates in other county and city council electoral areas, depending on their population.

A standard spending limit of €7,500 applies to all candidates in borough and town councils (80 in total).

The Act provides that spending by candidates and political parties on the election campaign in the 60 days leading up to polling day is covered under the scheme of spending limits and such spending must be declared in their statements of election expenditure.

Candidates will continue to submit spending returns to their local authority as they have done heretofore, but are also required to comply with the new spending limits.

The Act also amends the Litter Pollution Act 1997 to clarify the commencement date from which posters may be exhibited at elections and referenda.

 

 

Electoral (Amendment) Act 2009

The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2009 was enacted on 24th February 2009.

The purpose of the Act is to revise Dáil and European Parliament constituencies, to provide for the number of members to be elected for these constituencies, to amend the law relating to the Constituency Commission and to provide revised alternative procedures for nomination of non-party candidates at European Parliament and local elections.

The Act revises Dáil and European Parliament constituencies by providing for implementation of the recommendations of the Constituency Commission’s Report on Dáil and European Parliament Constituencies 2007 (Prn. A7/1347). The Commission was established under the Electoral Act 1997 to report, in light of the results of Census 2006, on the constituencies for the election of members to Dáil Eireann and the European Parliament. The Commission’s report is available at http://www.constituency-commission.ie/.

The Act also revises the procedures to be followed by Constituency Commissions.  While most of the existing law in this area is retained, the main change is that, in future, Commissions will be established on 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; the Commission will have to report as soon as may be after publication by that Office of the Census Report setting out the final result of the Census in respect of the total population of the State and, in any event, not later than 3 months after such publication.  Previously, Commissions had to await final results before starting work.

Finally, the Act provides for two alternative procedures for the nomination of non-party candidates at European Parliament and local elections - by way of obtaining assentors to the nomination or by way of lodging a deposit.  Similar procedures were enacted for, and implemented at, the general election in 2007.

A Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) for the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2008 is available (the Bill became the 2009 Act).


 

Electoral (Amendment) Act 2007

The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2007 was enacted on 10 April 2007 and provides for two alternative mechanisms to regulate the nomination of non-party Dáil candidates.  These alternatives, one of which must be complied with before the expiration of the time for receiving nominations, are as follows:

(i) by way of assents requiring the completion of statutory declarations by 30 assentors in the relevant Dáil constituency which may be witnessed by one of 5 categories: a Commissioner for Oaths, a Peace Commissioner, a Notary Public, a Garda or a local authority official;
or
(ii) by way of the candidate, or someone on his or her behalf, lodging a deposit of €500 with the returning officer.

The Act also provides that necessary travelling and other expenses incurred by a candidate or an assentor in meeting the assentors requirements, and the amount of any deposit paid, shall not be regarded as an election expense for the election concerned.

A Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) for the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2007 is available. This Bill was enacted as the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2007.

 

Electoral (Amendment) Act 2006

The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2006 was enacted on the 11 December 2006 and provides specific arrangements for postal voting by prisoners.  Prisoners continue to be registered at their home address and, for voting purposes, are deemed to be ordinarily resident in their home constituency. Prisoners must be able to establish that they were ordinarily resident in the State prior to being imprisoned in order to avail of the postal voting arrangements. As is the case with all voters, citizenship determines the type of elections at which prisoners can vote. The Act also provides for a number of miscellaneous amendments to electoral law.

Further information on postal voting is set out in the following leaflets available on the right-hand side of the screen under Publications and Documents: How the Dáil (Lower House of Parliament) is Elected (Section 12); Register of Electors (Section 4); Information for Voters with Disabilities (Section 5).