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Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 3 Jul 1930

Vol. 13 No. 31

Public Business. - Electoral (Dublin Commercial) Bill, 1930—Committee.

The Seanad went into Committee.
SECTION 1.

I move:—

Sub-section (3). To insert before the sub-section a new sub-section as follows:—

(3) Until the day which is the appointed day for the purposes of the Local Government (Dublin) Act, 1930 (No. of 1930), the Town Clerk of the City shall have exercise and perform all the powers, functions and duties of the Dublin City Manager and Town Clerk under this Act, and references in this Act to the Dublin City Manager and Town Clerk shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

The reason for this amendment is that the Dublin City Manager and Town Clerk will not come into office until the appointed day under the Local Government (Dublin) Bill, and it might be held that the duties assigned to him by that Bill would not be the duties of the present Town Clerk. This amendment puts the question beyond all doubt.

Amendment put and agreed to.
Section 1, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Sections 2 and 3 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
SECTION 4, SUB-SECTION (3).
(3) The register of commercial electors prepared under this Act for the purposes of the first city election shall contain the names of all individuals, partnerships, unincorporated associations, and corporate bodies who are, on the 1st day of July, 1930, entitled by law to be registered in the register of commercial electors.

I move:—

Section 4, sub-section (3). To delete in line 52 the words and figures "1st day of July, 1930," and to substitute therefor the words "day after the passing of this Act."

That, of course, is due to the fact that we are past the day mentioned in the Bill.

Amendment put and agreed to.
Section 4, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Sections 5 to 19, inclusive, ordered to stand part of the Bill.
FIRST SCHEDULE.
Rules 3 and 13:—
3. Every register shall be in the prescribed form and shall show in respect of every person registered therein the following matters and such other matters as shall be prescribed, that is to say:—
(a) the full name of such person; and
(b) whether such person is an individual, partnership, unincorporated association, or corporate body; and
(c) the premises or all the several premises in respect of which such person is registered; and
(d) the valuation of the premises or the respective valuations of the several premises in respect of which such person is registered; and
(e) the number of votes to which such person is entitled.
13. (1) As soon as practicable after the day which is prescribed as the last day for sending to the registration officer objections to the first list of claimants the registration officer shall consider all claims sent to him in accordance with these rules for registration in the first register and all objections to the first list of claimants sent to him in accordance with these rules or made by him under these rules and shall rule on every such claim or objection.

I move:—

Rule 3. After the word "name" in line 22 to insert the words "and address".

This rule, with amendment No. 5, is intended to secure that the actual address to which notice may be sent will appear on the register, and that where the applicant is qualified in respect of two or more addresses, the address will be the address which he indicates.

Amendment put and agreed to.

I move:—

First Schedule. Rule 3. To delete the word "valuation" in line 27 and to substitute therefor the words "value within the meaning of Section 35 of the Local Government (Dublin) Act, 1930 (No. of 1930)," and in the same line to delete the word "valuations" and to substitute therefor the words "such values."

This amendment and No. 6 are consequent on the amendment inserted on the Report Stage of the Dublin Bill in Section 35, which deals with valuation.

Amendment agreed to.

I move amendment 5:—

First Schedule. Rule 3. To add at the end of the rule a new sub-rule as follows:—

(2) For the purposes of this rule, the address of a person who is registered in the register in respect of one premises only shall be the postal address of such premises and the address of a person who is so registered in respect of two or more premises shall be the postal address of such one of those premises as such person shall indicate to the registration officer or in default of such indication, as the registration officer shall consider to be most convenient.

The purpose of this amendment has already been explained to the House.

Amendment agreed to.

I move amendment 6:—

First Schedule. Rule 13. To insert before sub-rule (3) a new sub-rule as follows:—

(3) When considering and ruling on a claim or objection in relation to a person who occupies or claims or is alleged to occupy premises partly for the purpose of carrying on therein any business, profession, trade, manufacture or other commercial or industrial pursuit, the registration officer shall consider and, when requisite, rule on the proportion of the valuation under the Valuation Acts of such premises which is fairly attributable to the part thereof so occupied.

This amendment is to meet an objection that was raised by Senator Comyn.

I wonder would the Senator or the Minister tell us what the position with respect to the first register will be, supposing a large number of claims have to be dealt with by the registration-officer. If the registration officer, for instance, has between now and the date of the first register to decide on the valuation of the part of the premises occupied for business, or professional purposes, and the part occupied for residential purposes and has to rule on the portion of the valuation of such premises purely attributable to the parts so occupied, that may prevent the preparation of the register in time for the election. One can see the possibility of such a position arising if a large number of applications of that kind are made and have to be decided before the October elections take place.

I raised this matter of the apportionment of the valuations on an earlier stage of the Bill. It is really a most important matter. Now on the Fifth Stage of the Bill we have this motion coming forward which is probably one of the most important that has been moved in connection with the Bill.

Cathaoirleach

This is the Committee Stage of the Bill, Senator.

Well, in any event this is a most important motion. Senator Johnson referred to the difficulty that the registration officer will have in making that apportionment in the time allowed. There will indeed be very great difficulties. It is very doubtful if that work can be thoroughly done in the time allowed. So far as I can see the only thing that can be done is to take the valuation lists, look up the valuation of a house, and if it is occupied divide it by two. Some rule of thumb method of that sort will have to be adopted, and it is just as well that the Seanad should understand what they are being asked to do.

We must all be quite clear that we are throwing on the registration officer a rather big task; that of preparing between this and, say, the early part of September a register that, in normal circumstances would be compiled between the 15th of November in one year and the 1st of June in the next. Normally that is the period allowed for the preparation of a register, but with regard to the preparation of this first register, there is no other way out than the way that has been indicated. We want this register for the next election. We are making provision in the Dublin Bill that the Council must be elected not later than the 31st October next, so that we are giving the registration officer a difficult task apart from any difficulty he may find on this particular point.

I want to assure the Seanad that the proposed registration officer himself does not see the very great difficulties in this matter that individual Senators who have spoken on it seem to see. There may have to be a certain amount of rule of thumb introduced into the matter, but the Town Clerk has a fair idea of what is involved. So far as it comes within the province of my Department, we will see that such assistance as may be necessary will be provided to enable him to overcome the difficulties referred to as well as any other difficulty that may arise. This amendment is really consequential on what was decided on in the Dublin Bill, namely, to make business premises, whether wholly or partly occupied for business purposes, the basis of the franchise. As I pointed out on an earlier stage, the registration officer would be called on, in respect of this franchise, to perform duties similar to those which he already performs in the case of persons claiming a Dáil vote not in respect of residence but in respect of business premises. So that the position is that this is not a new type of duty that is being thrown on him. It is a duty that he already has had experience of.

Amendment put, and declared carried.
First, Second and Third Schedules agreed to.
Title agreed to.
Bill reported with amendments.
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