This Bill also has a very definite bearing on the coming Seanad elections. It is a Bill of two short sections. When the matter of this election came to be considered atministratively, two difficulties arising out of the present form of the Constitution presented themselves. The first is that the Constitution fixes no date from which the duration of the term of office of members of the Seanad is to be reckoned. It provides that, subject to the special provisions regarding the first Seanad, the term of office of the member shall be 12 years. Of the first Seanad 15 members are to hold office for 3 years, 15 are to hold office for 6 years, 15 are to hold office for 9 years and 15 are to hold office for 12 years. In the absence of any special provision, these periods would be deemed to run from the date of election or nomination as the case may be. Deputies will remember that 30 members of the first Seanad were nominated by the President on the 6th day of December, 1922, whilst the election for the 30 members elected by the Dáil was not held until the 7th day of December, 1922, the result being declared on the following day, 8th December. Article 34 of the Constitution, which deals with the filling of casual vacancies, provides that members chosen to fill such vacancies shall retire at the conclusion of the three years' period then running. It is clear that the Constitution contemplated a definite date as the termination of the period but this is not, in fact, effected, because the 15 members who retire in the ordinary course and the persons chosen to fill casual vacancies might retire on different dates. Similarly, in future, if members were elected on a date subsequent to the 6th day of December, they would in the absence of some special provision, continue to hold office for a period of 12 years from the date of election. It is desirable that a definite date should be fixed as constituting the termination of each triennial period, and that is done in the draft Bill.
The second difficulty arose because of the fact that the Constitution does not declare any time-limit within which the triennial elections may be held. Article 32 provides that "one-fourth of the members of Seanad Eireann shall be elected every three years," while Article 82, which deals with the transitional period, provides that at the termination of the period of office of the members nominated or elected under that Article, members shall be elected in their place in manner provided by Article 32. We have taken advice as to the proper construction of these two Articles and we are advised that, as the Constitution stands, no election can be held prior to the termination of office of the retiring members —that is, that no election could be held prior to the 6th December next without an amendment of the Constitution.
For the purpose of these elections, the entire State forms one constituency or one electoral area and the panel will consist of not less than 57 names. In view of these facts, it will be realised that a very considerable period of time must necessarily elapse between the date of the poll and the ascertainment of the persons elected. It is not considered desirable that a long period should be allowed to elapse without having a properly constituted Seanad, and, accordingly, it is proposed so to amend the Constitution as to permit of an election being held prior to and in anticipation of the termination of the period of office of the out-going members. The alternative to that would be possibly two months or longer without a fully and properly-qualified Seanad, and that is a situation which we do not care to envisage.
The last-mentioned amendment will necessitate a further amendment of an incidental nature. Where the election is held prior to the termination of the triennial period, it will be necessary so to amend Article 34 as to provide that persons chosen to fill casual vacancies after the formation of the panel and prior to the termination of the three years then running, shall continue to hold office until the termination of the next three-years period. The Bill which I ask leave to have circulated to Deputies is intended to amend the Constitution in such a way as to provide for these difficulties. I move for leave to introduce the Bill.
