Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act, 1937

PART II.

Register of Nominating Bodies.

The register of nominating bodies.

9.—(1) A register (in this Act referred to as the register of nominating bodies) of bodies (in this Act referred to as nominating bodies) entitled to nominate persons to the panels of candidates for the purposes of every Seanad election shall be set up and maintained in accordance with this Act.

(2) The following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to the register of nominating bodies, that is to say:—

(a) the said register shall be in such form as the Seanad returning officer shall, with the approval of the Minister, think proper;

(b) no body shall be eligible to be registered in the register in respect of any particular panel (other than the administrative panel) unless its objects and activities relate to or are connected with or it is representative of persons engaged in one or more of the interests and services mentioned in sub-section 1° of section 7 of Article 18 of the Constitution in respect of that particular panel;

(c) no body which is formed or carried on wholly or substantially for profit or which carries on, as its sole or principal function, any trade or business for profit shall be eligible for registration in the said register;

(d) no body which is composed wholly or mainly of persons who are in the employment of the State or of persons who are in the employment of local authorities and the objects of which include the advancement or protection of the interests of such persons in relation to their said employment shall be eligible for registration in the said register;

(e) every body which is registered in the said register shall be so registered in respect of one, and only one, panel;

(f) except as otherwise provided by this sub-section, no body shall be registered in the said register save in pursuance of an application in that behalf made by such body in accordance with this Act;

(g) the following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to the administrative panel, that is to say:—

(i) the Irish County Councils General Council and the Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland shall be registered in the said register in respect of the said panel without any application in that behalf under this Act, and

(ii) no other body shall be registered in the said register in respect of the said panel unless its objects and activities consist, wholly or substantially, of voluntary social services of a charitable or eleemosynary character;

(h) the number of nominating bodies registered in the said register in respect of any particular panel shall be so limited that the full number of persons which may be nominated to such panel by nominating bodies shall not exceed thirty.

(3) Each of the following bodies, and no other body, shall be a local authority for the purposes of this section, that is to say:—

(a) the council of a county, a county or other borough, or an urban district, the commissioners of a town, a municipal corporation and a board of guardians, and

(b) a person who is established by or in pursuance of any statute to perform any of the functions of any of the bodies mentioned in the next preceding paragraph of this sub-section, and

(c) a committee or joint committee of or appointed by any one or more of the bodies mentioned in either of the preceding paragraphs of this sub-section.