I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. The reason for this Bill is to be found in the fact that a Presidential election is due to take place this year, and this election should be completed not later than June 24th next. The Constitution provides that the process of electing a new President shall not be initiated before the 60th day prior to the date upon which the current Presidential term expires. The Constitution also provides that the election of the President shall be regulated by law and the statute by which this is done is the Presidential Elections Act, 1937.
Under Section 6 of that Act the Minister for Local Government is bound to make an Order appointing, among other things, the last day for receiving nominations, the last day upon which a candidate who has been nominated may withdraw his candidature, and the day upon which a poll, should such be necessary, must be taken.
Should it be necessary to have a poll in order to elect the successor to our present President, then, for reasons to which I shall refer later, we must, I think, as a matter of prudence, fix the day for taking it not later than June 20th.
Now, it happens that in accordance with the existing law the elections for the local authorities must take place this year, and under Sections 5 and 6 of the Local Elections Act, 1927, it is provided that these elections shall take place not earlier than the 23rd June and not later than the 1st day of July.
This, accordingly, is the position. The poll for the Presidential election must take place over the whole country on a day not later than June 20th. On the other hand, except in one or two districts where special circumstances may obtain, the local elections are due to take place throughout the country in the period between the 22nd June and the 2nd July, that is, within a very few days of the date upon which the Presidential poll may have to be taken.
Everyone knows that elections in general do occasion some dislocation of the ordinary life of the community. It may be that sort of dislocation which by reason of the excitement and public interest which elections engender is not unwelcome, and is certainly not unhealthy. But most people would say that elections, whether welcome or not, because of this dislocation, should be avoided and should not be permitted to recur at too frequent intervals. Accordingly, when we have the Presidential election and the local elections falling within such a short interval of time as, perhaps, three to ten days, most people would say that the reasonable and sensible thing to do would be to arrange that these elections would take place on the same day. It is to meet that point of view, a point of view which I am sure will be that of the ordinary, practical businessman and citizen, that this Bill is introduced.
It may not, of course, be necessary to avail of the powers which the Bill proposes to confer. That will depend on whether or not more than one candidate having been nominated more than one still remains in nomination when the time fixed for withdrawals has expired. Should only one candidate remain nominated, it will not be necessary to invoke the powers which the Bill provides for, Part II of the Act will not come into operation, and the local elections will be held, in the normal way, on such dates between the 22nd June and July 2nd, as may be fixed by the appropriate local authorities under Sections 5 and 6 of the Local Elections Act, 1927. On the other hand should more than one candidate remain in nomination when the time for withdrawals has elapsed, then it will become necessary to take a poll for the election to the Presidency under Sections 12 and 20 of the Presidential Elections Act, 1937. In that case Part II of the measure will come into operation and under Section 5 thereof the polling at the local elections will take place on the same day as the poll for the Presidential election. It will be seen, therefore, that in these circumstances the date of the local elections will be determined by the date fixed for the Presidential poll.
We, accordingly, come to examine what considerations must be taken into account in fixing the day for the Presidential poll. The primary conditions governing an election to the office of President are laid down in the Constitution.
Under sub-section 3º of Section 3 of Article 12 it is prescribed that an election to the office of President shall not be held earlier than the 60th day before the expiration of the term of office of the President. As our present President's term of office will not in the normal course expire until midnight on June 24th of this year, an election for the Presidential office cannot be held on a date earlier than the 25th April.
The process of electing a President begins when the days for fulfilling the various essential steps in the procedure are appointed. These days are the days for receiving nominations for the office, for withdrawing such nominations, and for taking a poll, should such be necessary. Such days are appointed by the Minister for Local Government and Public Health by an Order made under sub-section (1) of Section 6 of the Presidential Elections Act, 1937.
In conformity with this provision of the Constitution, sub-section (3) of the same section of the Act of 1937 provides that the Order in question "shall be made on or as soon as conveniently may be after the 60th day before the expiration of the term of office of the outgoing President", that is, in the present instance, on or as soon as may be after the 26th April, 1945.
Before that date the Minister can do nothing, whether under the Constitution or under the Presidential Elections Act, to set the process of election in motion.
The next provision of the Constitution which must be adverted to by the Minister when appointing the specified days is Section 7 of Article 12. This section prescribes that the new "President shall enter upon his office on the day following the expiration of the term of office of his predecessor or as soon as may be thereafter". It is obvious from this that, in appointing the day for the taking of a poll, should such be necessary, at a Presidential election, the Minister must endeavour to ensure, while taking all relevant circumstances into consideration, that the counting of the votes will be completed, and the result of the Presidential election announced, in due time to allow the new President to comply with the spirit of the Constitution, by entering upon his office on the day following the expiration of the term of office of the outgoing President.
With this consideration in mind my opinion is that in the event of a simple election, that is one in which there would not be more than two candidates, June 20th is the latest date that in prudence might be fixed for the taking of a poll.
On the other hand, if there are likely to be more than two candidates, then, so as to be on the safe side, it would be wise to advance the date of the poll by some days to June 15th. These dates, June 20th and June 15th, represent the very latest dates which, in the circumstances I have mentioned, could, with advertence to the requirements of the Constitution, be fixed for polling.
There is, however, another consideration which would suggest that the date should be as late in June as may be. We all wish the elections, whether Presidential or local, to be held on the new register which will come into force on the 1st June. It is desirable that those who may be engaged in the elections, or concerned with the conduct of them, should have as long a period as may be after that date to take whatever action may be required of them, or whatever steps they may think necessary or desirable to advance the particular interests which they have in view.
Therefore the day of the poll should be fixed as soon as possible to the limiting dates I have given. I have every reason to believe that the new register will be available to all concerned at the usual time in every area. In Dublin, indeed, I have caused inquiries to be made which indicates that the work of preparing it is well in advance of schedule.
Accordingly, while admittedly the last possible day should be appointed for the elections, I have no reason to believe that any interest will suffer if the date of the local elections is advanced from within the last week to within the last fortnight or so, in June. Therefore, I cannot see that the public interest or public convenience is going to suffer if, instead of holding local elections as they might be held, on June 23rd, we arrange to have them held on June 20th or June 15th.
When we have decided what day is to be appointed for taking the Presidential poll, should such be necessary, the appointment of the other days is a comparatively simple matter.
For reasons which I think I need not state, because I am sure they will occur to everybody, it is desirable to allow more time between the final settlement of the nominations for the Presidential election and the taking of the poll therefor, than is customary in the case of a Parliamentary or local election.
It is likewise desirable to allow a longer period to a person who has been nominated as a candidate for Presidency to consider whether he will persevere in his candidature or not. And it is finally desirable to give as ample notice as possible of the appointed days.
Accordingly I think I should say now that the necessary. Order appointing these days is likely to be made on the 26th of this month; that the last day for receiving nominations will be one of the days from 12th to 15th May inclusive: that the last day for withdrawals will be from the 17th to 20th May inclusive; and that polling, if necessary, will be fixed for either June 15th or June 20th, probably the former, unless I have very strong reasons to believe that there will not be more than two candidates.
To come now to the several provisions in the Bill. Sections 1 and 2 require no comment. Section 3 I have already referred to. It specifies the circumstances under which Part II, which embodies the remaining ten sections of the Bill, comes into operation. Section 4 declares that the Act will apply only to the elections in 1945. In the normal course the Presidential and local elections will not come to be held within the same month in any year until 21 years hence. Furthermore, we have no reason to believe that certain difficulties such, for instance, as paragraph (f) of Section 13 is intended to provide against, would arise at a future date and necessitate some of the provisions which are embodied in this Bill. Therefore, I do not think it advisable to make this Bill a permanent measure to apply to any other elections, except those held this year. Twenty years from now the circumstances may be quite different. The method of electing local authorities and of electing the President may be then quite different, so that I do not think it is necessary for us to pretend to such foresight as would cover whatever circumstances might exist at that date. Section 5 modifies the Local Elections Act, 1927, by fixing the poll at a local election to be the day for the poll at the Presidential election instead of the day appointed by the county council, between the 23rd June and the 1st July. Section 6 adapts Section 20 of the Presidential Elections Act, 1937, by making the administrative county or county borough, instead of the Dáil constituency, for the purpose of the Presidential election. As the House is aware the Presidential Election Act provides that the poll for the election of the President shall be taken by constituencies. This Bill proposes to make the whole administrative area of a county council or county borough the constituency for the purpose of conducting the Presidential poll.
Under Section 5 also the county registrar or under-sheriff, as the case may be, is appointed the local returning officer for the purposes of the Presidential election. The House no doubt is aware that, under the Act of 1937, the returning officer for the purpose of the Presidential election is appointed under the Act, but that all the county registrars and those functionaries who act as returning officers in the case of Parliamentary elections would act as local returning officers responsible to the returning officer for the proper conduct of the Presidential election in their constituencies. Under this section it is proposed to make those who would normally be the returning officers in the case of the Presidential election returning officers, not only for the purpose of the Presidential election, but also returning officers for the purpose of conducting the poll in the case of the local authority elections. Now the reason for this is that it is essential that the constituency be the same for each election in order to avoid confusion in the arrangements for the poll and in the collection of the ballot boxes and the counting of the votes. This adaptation also involves the preparation of a postal voters' list, arranged according to each local electoral area, and the necessary provisions to that end will be found in sub-section (2) of Section 6.
Section 7 authorises the issue to a member of the L.S.F. of a certificate enabling him to vote at a different place in the county electoral area from that at which he would otherwise vote if he were not engaged on duties connected with the election. The House is aware of the provision under which persons who are engaged in the conduct of elections, like presiding officers, poll clerks and so on, may vote in the place in which they are officiating. It was found at the Elections of 1943 and 1944 that members of the L.S.F. were on duty in places other than those in which they would normally vote and thus did not have an opportunity to vote at all. This section is intended to give them an opportunity of voting at this election.
Section 8 extends the obligation to preserve the secrecy of the voting to all agents present at the polling or counting, whether on behalf of the Presidential or the local election candidates. It is assumed that it may be necessary in certain areas to conduct the poll for the Presidential and the local elections within the one booth and therefore every person present inside that booth must be bound to secrecy, whether he is there on behalf of a candidate for the Presidency or there on behalf of a candidate for the local authority.
Section 9 provides that if separate ballot boxes are provided a ballot paper will not be invalidated by being placed in the wrong ballot box. It is the intention, if possible, to provide separate ballot boxes, but owing to stringency in the supply of materials, materials which may be required for another purpose, it may not be possible to provide seperate boxes in every area. Therefore, it may be necessary to allow all the papers to be inserted in the one box. On the other hand, if separate ballot boxes are provided within the same booth for the purpose of conducting the Presidential and the local election, then this section provides that, if by any mischance a ballot paper finds its way into the wrong box, the vote will not be invalid because of that fact.
Section 10 places the polls for both the Presidential election and the local elections under the sole jurisdiction of the local Presidential returning officer. The duties of a returning officer in relation to the poll are such that a division of authority between two or three officers would be impracticable, but at the same time it may be assumed that there will be a complete co-operation between the returning officers concerned.
Section 11 authorises the expenses incurred in taking the joint poll to be charged and paid as part of the expenses incurred in the conduct of the Presidential election. In so far, however, as these charges include expenses which would otherwise be paid by the local authority, the charges will be apportioned. A similar provision I may say was made in former days where county and rural district councillors were elected on the same day.
Section 12 is consequential on Section 11. The scale to be prescribed under this section for the local government elections will not include the expense of taking the poll since that expense will be paid and recovered under the provisions of Section 11.
Section 13 confers on the Minister for Local Government and Public Health power to make such regulations as may be necessary to give effect to the Act, including the issue of a polling card in respect of the Presidential election to each Dáil elector, and the other matters mentioned in the succeeding paragraphs.
That is the purport and these are the general provisions of the measure now before the House. The issue which is really involved in this is whether, should a poll fall to be taken in relation to the election for the Presidency, bearing in mind that that poll must be taken within a very few days of the period prescribed by the statute within which the local elections must be held, we shall make such provision as will enable these elections to take place on the one day and whether that would be to the general convenience of the public and whether it would be in the public interest. I submit that it would be to the general convenience of the public and that there is nothing contrary to the public interest in holding these elections on the one day. I submit, therefore, that it is only a rational and reasonable thing to make provision and to ask for the powers that are contemplated in this Bill.