As will be seen from the long title, the purpose of this Bill is to enable the Chairman of Dáil Eireann to be deemed to be elected at a general election without any actual election.
The former Constitution originally contained no provision which would relieve the Chairman of Dáil Eireann from the necessity of seeking reelection at a general election just as any other Deputy, if he desired to continue to be a member of Dáil Eireann. The Constitutional provisions and the Electoral Law in this respect were amended by the Constitution (Amendment No. 2) Act, and the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1927, to the effect that the member who was Chairman of Dáil Eireann immediately before a dissolution would be deemed, without any actual election, to be elected a member of Dáil Eireann unless before the dissolution he had announced to the Dáil that he did not desire to continue to be a member.
Article 16 of the Constitution lately enacted requires provision to be made by law to enable the Chairman of Dáil Eireann to be deemed to be elected a member of Dáil Eireann at a general election following a dissolution, without any actual election. This Bill is thus necessary to give effect to the requirements of the Constitution. The scheme in the Bill is the same as that in the former amended Constitution, that is to say the Chairman is deemed to be elected unless he had announced to the Dáil that he did not desire to continue to be a member. He will be elected for the constituency for which he was a member immediately before the dissolution. It may happen that as a result of a redistribution of seats, the constituency for which the Chairman had been elected may be subdivided, amalgamated with another constituency or be altered in extent. In such a case the Redistribution Act will declare the constituency which most nearly corresponds to the Chairman's constituency, to be his constituency in the new Dáil.
The writ of election directed to the returning officer of the constituency will require one less than the full number of members to be elected, and, at the time of issue of the writ, a certificate will be published in Iris Oifigiúil by the Clerk of the Dáil that the Chairman did not announce to Dáil Eireann before the dissolution that he did not desire to become a member of Dáil Eireann at the general election consequent on the dissolution. Should the outgoing Ceann Comhairle die before the poll has commenced, the writ will be recalled, and a fresh writ issued requiring the election of the full number of members, but a candidate already nominated will not require a fresh nomination.