Vol. 5 No. 11
I beg to move for leave to introduce "A Bill to amend the law relating to the preparation of the Register of Local Government Electors, and for other purposes relating to Registration of such Electors."
I believe this will be a non-contentious Bill, and that it is not necessary for me to say anything on it at this stage.
Can the Minister tell us something about it or what it purports? We do not know whether it is non-contentious, because we have had no information about it of any kind.
Before the passing of the Electoral Act, 1923, the principal enactment in force relating to all franchise was the Representation of the People Act, 1918. That Act both prescribed franchises and fixed the dates for compiling the electors' lists and registers. Both Parliamentary and Local Government franchises were determined by reference to residence or occupation of premises for a period of six months ending on the 15th day of July. All persons so qualified were to appear on a register which was to come into force on the 15th day of October. During the life of the Provisional Parliament, there was no opportunity for drafting a measure so intricate as the Electoral Act, and that Parliament, by resolution of the 12th September, 1922, directed the preparation of a register according to the law then enforced, but the principle of adult suffrage was applied to the Parliamentary franchise in accordance with the Constitution. The 15th October, 1922, was substituted for the 15th July (the date in the Act of 1918), and the other stages were to be fixed by order of the Minister for Local Government. The Local Government franchise, which is on the basis of occupation, was in no way effective. These resolutions were subsequently confirmed in the Electoral Act which formally enacted the Constitutional Dáil and Seanad franchises, and fixed the 15th November as the qualifying date for those franchises. Nothing in the Act of 1923 dealt with either Local Government franchise or Local Government registers, and all the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1918, were expressly left unrepealed. According to the letter of the law, a register should, therefore, have been prepared of all persons who were qualified to be Local Government electors on the 15th July last, but on that date the register prepared under the resolution of the Provisional Parliament, above referred to, had not yet been completed. Experience has shown here, and elsewhere, that a register cannot be prepared in the short prescribed period, 15th July-15th October. Six and a half months are allowed by the Electoral Act. Furthermore, the Parliamentary and Local Government electors have always been noted on the same register. The new register, which, under the Electoral Act, will be commenced at once, will show Dáil, Seanad and Local Government electors; a person who is qualified for each franchise will have three distinguishing letters opposite his name in the register, e.g., S.R.O.
S=Seanad Franchise.
R=Residence Qualification
"Dáil."
O=Occupation (Local Government).
If the registers of Dáil, Seanad and Local Government electors are not prepared at the same time, and do not appear in the same document, there would be a heavy needless expenditure of money both in payment to officials for double work and travelling and in double printing. The present Bill, therefore, proposes to adapt the dates and machinery of the Electoral Act to the preparation of a Local Government register, but it does not in any way alter the existing provisions of the Representation of the People Act which prescribes Local Government franchise. The Bill does not deal with franchise in any way. It is merely a question of combining the Local Government register with the ordinary Parliamentary register, and is merely an economy measure.
