Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1985
Acts of the Oireachtas
Source: Acts of the Oireachtas

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paragraphs: —(1) In this Act—
“the Act of 1963” means the Electoral Act, 1963 ;
“the Act of 1966” means the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1966 ;
“the Act of 1977” means the European Assembly Elections Act, 1977 .
(2) In sections 3 (2), 4 , 5 and 7 of this Act, a reference to any enactment is to that enactment as amended or extended by any other enactment enacted after the commencement of this Act.
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paragraphs: —Section 5 of the Act of 1963 is hereby amended by the insertion after subsection (1) of the following subsections:
“(1A) (a) In addition to those entitled to be registered under subsection (1) of this section, a person shall be entitled to be registered as a DÃ¡il elector in a constituency if he is a person who has reached the age of eighteen years and who on the qualifying date—
(i) complied with the requirement of subsection (1) (b) of this section, and
(ii) was either—
(I) a British citizen, or
(II) a national of a Member State to which this subsection applied on that date.
(b) This subsection applies to a Member State which is for the time being the subject of a declaration under subsection (1B) of this section.
(1B) Where the Minister is of opinion that—
(a) the law of a Member State relating to the election of members of, or deputies or other representatives in or to, the National Parliament of that Member State enables citizens of Ireland, by reason of their being such citizens and being resident in that Member State, to vote at such an election, and
(b) the provisions of that law enabling citizens of Ireland who are so resident so to vote are the same, or are substantially the same, as those enabling nationals of that Member State so to vote,
the Minister may by order declare that Member State to be a Member State to which subsection (1A) of this section applies.
(1C) The Minister may by order specify criteria or other matters to which regard shall be had in order to determine whether or not a person is for the purpose of this section a national of a Member State and such order may provide that the provisions of the order shall relate to all Member States or to such one or more Member States as are specified in the order.
(1D) Where—
(a) an order under subsection (1C) of this section is for the time being in force, and
(b) a Member State to which the order applies is for the time being a Member State to which subsection (1A) of this section applies,
clause (II) of subsection (1A) (a) (ii) of this section shall be construed and have effect subject to the provisions of the order.
(1E) (a) The Minister may revoke or amend an order under this section (including an order under this subsection).
(b) Where an order under this section (including an order under this subsection) is proposed to be made, a draft thereof shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and the order shall not be made until a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by each such House.
(1F) (a) Subject to subsection (1D), in this section—
‘a British citizen’ means a person who under the Act of the British Parliament entitled the British Nationality Act 1981 is a British citizen;
‘the European Communities’ means the European Economic Community, the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community;
‘Member State’ means a Member State of the European Communities other than the State or the United Kingdom;
‘national of a Member State’ has the meaning assigned to it by the treaties save that it shall not be construed as referring to the United Kingdom or as including a British citizen;
‘the treaties’ means the treaties, convention and decision mentioned in section 1 (1) of the European Communities Act, 1972 , as supplemented or amended in the manner mentioned in that section.
(b) The reference in paragraph (a) of this subsection to the Act of the British Parliament mentioned in that paragraph is a reference to that Act as enacted by that Parliament on the 30th day of October, 1981.”.
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paragraphs: —(1) Subsection (1) of section 92, as amended by section 21 (2) of the Act of 1977, of the Act of 1963 is hereby amended by the insertion of “presidential electors,” after “DÃ¡il electors,” and the said subsection (1), as amended by this section, is set out in the Table to this section.
(2) The Act of 1963 shall be construed and have effect as if for each of the references to a register of DÃ¡il electors in subsections (1) and (2) of section 44, subsections (1), (2) (as amended by section 2 of the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1973 ) and (4) of section 51, subsections (1) and (2) of section 64 and subsections (1), (2) (as so amended) and (4) of section 70 there were substituted a reference to a register of presidential electors.
TABLE
(1) The Minister may, in any case in which it appears to him that there is an emergency or special difficulty, by order make such adaptation or modification of any statute, order or regulation relating to the registration of DÃ¡il electors, presidential electors, Assembly electors or electors at local elections, or the conduct of DÃ¡il elections, presidential elections, Assembly elections, local elections or referenda, as may in his opinion be necessary to enable it to have effect subject to the provisions of this Act.
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paragraphs: —(1) For the purposes of—
(a) the Presidential Elections Acts, 1937 to 1985,
(b) the Referendum Acts, 1942 to 1985, and
(c) section 92 (1), as amended by section 21 (2) of the Act of 1977 and section 3 (1) of this Act, of the Act of 1963,
“presidential elector” means a person entitled to vote at an election of a person to the office of President of Ireland.
(2) For the purposes of the Presidential Elections Acts, 1937 to 1985, “elector”, when used alone, means a person described in subsection (1) of this section.
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paragraphs: —(1) A person shall be entitled to be registered as a presidential elector in a constituency if he has reached the age of eighteen years and if he was, on the qualifying date—
(a) a citizen of Ireland, and
(b) ordinarily resident in that constituency.
(2) Part II of the Act of 1963 (apart from subsection (1), subsections (1A), (1B), (1C), (1D), (1E) and (1F) (inserted by section 2 of this Act) and subsection (2) of section 5), as amended by section 1 of the Act of 1966 and section 4 of the Juries Act, 1976 , shall apply as regards the registration of presidential electors pursuant to this section and the register referred to in section 6 (1) of the Act of 1963 shall, in so far as it relates to persons entitled to vote at presidential elections, be the register of presidential electors.
(3) For the purpose of giving effect to subsection (2) of this section each of the references in subsections (4), (5), (5A) (inserted by section 1 of the Act of 1966) and (6) of section 5 of the Act of 1963 to the purposes of that section shall be construed as including a reference to the purposes of this section.
(4) In this section “the qualifying date” means the date specified by the Minister for the Environment under section 5 (6) of the Act of 1963.
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paragraphs: —The Presidential Elections Act, 1937 , is hereby amended by—
(a) the substitution in the definition of “register of electors” in section 3 of “presidential” for “DÃ¡il”; and
(b) the substitution, in both places where it occurs, of “presidential elector” for “person” in subsections (2) and (3) (both inserted by section 50 of the Act of 1963) of section 29,
and the said definition and the said subsections (2) and (3), as amended by this section, are set out in paragraphs 1 and 2, respectively, of the Table to this section.
TABLE
the expression “register of electors” means a register of the persons entitled to vote at a presidential election;
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paragraphs: (2) Every local returning officer shall, as soon as practicable after he receives from the presidential returning officer notice of the adjournment of a presidential election for the purpose of taking a poll, send to every presidential elector whose name is on the postal voters list for his constituency a ballot paper and a form of receipt (which shall be in the prescribed form) for such ballot paper.
(3) If such ballot paper duly marked by the said presidential elector and accompanied by the said receipt duly signed by him is received by the returning officer before the close of the poll, it shall be counted by him and treated for all purposes in the same manner as a ballot paper placed in the ballot box in the ordinary way.
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paragraphs: —(1) Each of the references in the Referendum Acts, 1942 to 1984, to the register of electors shall be construed as a reference to a register of the persons entitled to vote at a presidential election.
(2) In this section “presidential election” has the meaning assigned to it by section 3 of the Presidential Elections Act, 1937 .
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paragraphs: —The Referendum Act, 1942 , is hereby amended by—
(a) the substitution of “presidential electors registered in the register of presidential” for “DÃ¡il electors registered in the register of” in subsection (2) of section 7;
(b) the substitution of “presidential” for “DÃ¡il” in subsection (3) of section 7;
(c) the substitution of “presidential elector” for “person” in each place where it occurs in subsection (1), subsection (2) (inserted by section 69 of the Act of 1963), and subsection (3) (so inserted) of section 20;
(d) the substitution of “presidential electors on the register of presidential” for “Dail electors on the register of” in paragraph (b) of section 34 (2); and
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paragraphs: —(1) This Act may be cited as the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1985.
(2) The Electoral Acts, 1923 to 1983, and sections 1 , 2 and 3 (1), and section 4 in so far as it relates to the Act of 1963, of this Act may be cited together as the Electoral Acts, 1923 to 1985.
(3) The Presidential Elections Acts, 1937 to 1973, and sections 3 and 4 , in so far as they relate to presidential elections, and sections 1 , 5 and 6 of this Act may be cited together as the Presidential Elections Acts, 1937 to 1985.
(4) The Referendum Acts, 1942 to 1984 and sections 3 and 4 , in so far as they relate to a referendum, and sections 1 , 7 and 8 of this Act may be cited together as the Referendum Acts, 1942 to 1985.
(5) The Electoral Acts, 1923 to 1985, shall be construed as one Act.
(6) The Referendum Acts, 1942 to 1985, shall be construed as one Act.