Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Act 2024
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Supplementary provision in relation to nomination of candidates | ||
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34. The Act of 1937 is amended by the insertion of the following sections after section 16: | ||
“Nomination of candidates | ||
16A. (1) A person may nominate himself or herself as a candidate at an election in the Higher Education constituency or may, with his or her consent, be nominated by another person (being a person registered as an elector in the Higher Education constituency) as proposer. | ||
(2) Each candidate shall be nominated by a separate nomination paper in such form and containing such information as the Minister may prescribe. | ||
(3) Each nomination paper shall include the name of the candidate, stating his or her surname first, the address of the candidate and the occupation (if any) of the candidate or a description of the candidate in such manner as in the opinion of the returning officer is sufficient to identify the candidate. | ||
(4) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2), the Minister may require that a nomination paper contain any of the following: | ||
(a) a note of the qualifications, disqualifications and incapacities relevant to nomination as a candidate in an election to, election to and membership of, Seanad Éireann; | ||
(b) a description of the provisions of this Act and any other enactment that apply to the nomination of a candidate, and stating— | ||
(i) that a candidate may either comply with the assent requirement specified in subsection (5)(a) or make a deposit under subsection (5)(b), | ||
(ii) the procedure for assenting under section 16B, and | ||
(iii) the procedure for making a deposit under section 16C; | ||
(c) a declaration to be signed, where applicable, by the candidate that he or she has read the note referred to in paragraph (a) and believes himself or herself to be eligible for election and that he or she has consented to the nomination; | ||
(d) a declaration to be signed, where applicable, by the candidate’s proposer that he or she has read the note referred to in paragraph (a) and believes the candidate to be eligible for election and to have consented to the nomination. | ||
(5) Before the expiration of the time appointed by the Minister under section 12(1)(a) for receiving nominations, one or other of the following paragraphs shall be complied with: | ||
(a) the candidate’s nomination shall have been assented to by 60 persons (excluding the candidate and any proposer) who are registered as electors in the Higher Education constituency (each of whom in this Act is referred to as an ‘assentor’); | ||
(b) the candidate, or someone on his or her behalf, shall have made a deposit in accordance with section 16C. | ||
Assents required to nomination | ||
16B. (1) This section applies in respect of the nomination of a candidate under section 16A and assents required by subsection (5)(a) of that section. | ||
(2) To assent to the nomination, an assentor shall make a statutory declaration in the prescribed form stating the following: | ||
(a) his or her number in the register of electors in force on the date of the making of the statutory declaration; | ||
(b) his or her contact details, including telephone numbers (if any); | ||
(c) the name and an address of the candidate; | ||
(d) the form of identification produced by him or her in accordance with subsection (3), including any number on it that distinguishes it from similar forms held by others; | ||
(e) that he or she assents to the nomination of the candidate; | ||
(f) that he or she has not assented to the nomination of any other candidate in respect of that election in the Higher Education constituency; | ||
(3) When making the statutory declaration referred to in subsection (1), the assentor shall produce to the person taking and receiving the declaration, a prescribed photographic identification and shall, on so doing, be deemed, for the purposes of the Statutory Declarations Act 1938 , to be personally known to the person taking and receiving the declaration; | ||
(4) An assent shall have effect as respects, and only as respects, the election in the Higher Education constituency held next after the making of the statutory declaration; | ||
(5) The candidate or proposer shall attach the 60 statutory declarations constituting the assents to the nomination paper and the nomination paper delivered to the returning officer in accordance with section 18 shall have the declarations so attached; | ||
(6) Where more than the required number of statutory declarations is attached to the nomination paper, the declarations (up to the required number) first attached to the nomination paper shall be taken into account to the exclusion of any others; | ||
(7) The returning officer shall arrange for the provision of forms for the purposes of making a statutory declaration referred to in subsection (1) free of charge to any person who requests such a form. | ||
Deposit by certain candidates | ||
16C. (1) This section applies to a candidate referred to in section 16A(5)(b). | ||
(2) A candidate at an election in the Higher Education constituency, or someone on his or her behalf, may, at or before the expiration of the time appointed by the Minister under section 12(1)(a) for receiving nominations, deposit with the returning officer the sum of €1,800, and if he or she fails to do so, his or her candidature shall be deemed to have been withdrawn. | ||
(3) The deposit that may be made by or on behalf of a candidate pursuant to this section may be made by means of legal tender or, with the consent of the returning officer, in any other manner. | ||
Return or disposal of deposit | ||
16D. (1) The deposit referred to in section 16C shall be returned by the returning officer where the candidate— | ||
(a) withdraws his or her candidature, or whose candidature is deemed to have been withdrawn, | ||
(b) dies before the poll is closed, | ||
(c) has not, at or before the expiration of the time appointed by the Minister under section 12(1)(a) for receiving nominations, been validly nominated as a candidate, | ||
(d) is elected, or | ||
(e) is not elected but the greatest number of votes credited to him or her at any stage of the counting of the votes at the election in the Higher Education constituency exceeds one quarter of the quota. | ||
(2) Any deposit which is not returned under subsection (1) shall be forfeited. | ||
(3) Where a deposit is to be returned under subsection (1) it shall be returned to the person who made it, provided that a deposit made by a person who dies before the deposit is returned shall be returned to the personal representative of that person. | ||
(4) A deposit forfeited under this section shall be disposed of by the returning officer in such manner as may be directed by the Minister for Finance. | ||
(5) In this section ‘personal representative’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 3 of the Succession Act 1965 . | ||
Nomination of replacement candidates | ||
16E. (1) A candidate at an election in the Higher Education constituency may nominate one or more persons, in accordance with this Part and with the consent of the person or persons concerned, to be replacement candidates in the election in the Higher Education constituency. | ||
(2) A candidate may nominate replacement candidates at an election in the Higher Education constituency by entering the name of each person to be nominated on a single list (in this Act referred to as a ‘replacement candidates list’). | ||
(3) The number of replacement candidates that a candidate nominates in accordance with subsection (1) shall not exceed 6. | ||
(4) No person who is for the time being disqualified from or incapable of being elected as a member of Dáil Éireann shall be nominated as a replacement candidate at an election in the Higher Education constituency. | ||
(5) A person who is a candidate at an election in the Higher Education constituency shall be eligible for nomination as a replacement candidate at that election. | ||
Replacement candidates list | ||
16F. (1) A replacement candidates list shall be in such form and contain such information in relation to the persons nominated as the Minister may prescribe. | ||
(2) A replacement candidates list shall— | ||
(a) have as a heading the name of the candidate, stating his or her surname first, | ||
(b) include the name of any person nominated by entry thereon as a replacement candidate, stating the person’s surname before his or her other name or names, and the address of the person, and | ||
(c) be signed by the candidate. | ||
(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the Minister may require that a replacement candidates list contain any of the following information: | ||
(a) a note of the qualifications, disqualifications and incapacities relevant to nomination as a candidate in an election to, election to and membership of, Seanad Éireann; | ||
(b) a declaration, to be signed by the candidate that he or she has read the note referred to in paragraph (a) and believes that— | ||
(i) the information in the replacement candidates list is correct in all material respects, and | ||
(ii) each person nominated by him or her as a replacement candidate by inclusion on such list is eligible for nomination under this Act as a replacement candidate and has consented to be so nominated. | ||
Order of replacement candidates | ||
16G. Where a candidate in an election in the Higher Education constituency nominates more than one replacement candidate, the order in which the replacement candidates are nominated shall be determined by that candidate, and the names of such replacement candidates shall be listed on the relevant replacement candidates list in that order.”. |