I move:
"Go n-ordóidh an Ceann Comhairle do Chléireach na Dála a Rit do thabhairt amach chun ball do thogha chun an fholúntais atá i nDáilcheanntar Bhuirge Bhaile Atha Cliath Thuaidh, folúntas a thárla toisc nár toghadh ach seachtar in ionad ochtair chun an Dáilcheanntar san d'ionadú i nDáil Eireann ag an Toghachán Generálta a comóradh ar an 15adh lá de Mheán Fhomhair, 1927.
That the Ceann Comhairle direct the Clerk of the Dáil to issue his Writ for the election of a member to fill the vacancy which exists in the Borough Constituency of Dublin North, caused by the fact that only seven persons instead of eight were elected to represent that Constituency in Dáil Eireann at the General Election held on the 15th day of September, 1927."
The circumstances leading to the tabling of this motion are well known to Deputies, as they are well known to the general public, and it is scarcely necessary for me to take up the time of the House by referring to them. The fact is that since the General Election of the 15th September last the constituency of Dublin North, which is entitled to eight members in this House, has had only seven representatives. No person has claimed the eighth seat. No steps have been taken, either by petition in the courts or otherwise, to remove the anomaly that exists. That being so and the constituents of Dublin North being disfranchised to that extent, the Executive felt it incumbent on it to take legal advice with a view to removing the anomaly. The Executive has been advised that the seat is vacant and that the proper and legal step which should be taken in order to give the people of that constituency the representation which they are entitled to in this House, is that a writ should be moved and that the electorate should be put in a position that they should be enabled to elect a person who will fill that eighth seat. As I have said, the facts are well known, and so far as the law is concerned, I think it is very simple. At the last General Election for the borough constituency of Dublin North, it transpired, subsequent to the election, that one of the persons returned by the Returning Officer as elected to serve in the Dáil for the constituency, was, upon the date of election, a person who had been, on the 21st November, 1924, duly adjudicated bankrupt in the High Court of Justice in Bankruptcy of Saorstát Eireann, who had not since effected a settlement with his creditors through that Court or obtained his certificate of conformity, and was therefore an undischarged bankrupt. He was, therefore, within the terms of the provisions of Section 51, sub-section (2), paragraph (c) of the Electoral Act of 1923, a person disqualified from being elected or sitting as a member of the Dáil. The terms of that sub-section are:—
Each of the following persons shall be disqualified from being elected or sitting as a member of the Dáil, that is to say:—An undischarged bankrupt under an adjudication by a court of competent jurisdiction in Saorstát Eireann.
The gentleman involved was disqualified from being elected. He was, therefore, from the legal point of view, not elected. If every elector in the constituency had voted for him he could not have been elected, and therefore he was not elected. The seat is vacant and the Executive is advised that the proper method of dealing with the position which has arisen is that a Writ should be moved in this House, and that the House should accept the motion which is tabled, and therefore enable the electorate to fill the vacancy that has arisen in the circumstances which I have described.