Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act, 1937

The completion of the panels.

28.—(1) At twelve o'clock noon on the day for the completion of the panels the Seanad returning officer shall attend at the appointed place and there hold a sitting (in this Act referred to as the completion of the panels) at which he shall do all such things as he is required by the subsequent provisions of this Act to do at such sitting.

(2) When preparing the provisional panels in pursuance of the foregoing provisions of this Act, the Seanad returning officer shall not insert in any provisional panel the name of any person purported to be nominated by a nomination paper which is declared by this Act to be wholly void or which is received by him after the expiration of the relevant time for receiving nominations, but, with those exceptions, the Seanad returning officer shall prepare the provisional panels without considering or inquiring into the validity of any nomination paper or the nomination purported to be made thereby and without regard to any duplication of entries which may occur by reason of a person being nominated by more than one nomination paper, whether to the same or to different panels.

(3) At the completion of the panels, the Seanad returning officer shall take the several provisional panels successively one by one and shall, in respect of each provisional panel,—

(a) examine each nomination paper in pursuance of which a person was entered in such provisional panel and shall rule upon the validity or invalidity of each such nomination paper and the validity or invalidity of the nomination purported to be made thereby and shall delete from such provisional panel every entry made therein in pursuance of a nomination paper or a nomination which he decides to be invalid, and

(b) shall then examine the qualifications of each person whose name remains on such provisional panel after the said deletions and shall delete from such provisional panel the name of every such person in respect of whom he is not satisfied that such person is qualified under sub-section 1° of section 7 of Article 18 of the Constitution to be on the panel to which such provisional panel relates, and

(c) shall, in respect of every person whom he determines to be qualified to be on such panel, enter in the provisional panel relating to such panel a statement, in such form as he thinks proper, of the qualifications which he determines to be in fact the qualifications of such person to be on such panel, and

(d) shall then delete all duplicate entries remaining on such provisional panel and shall for that purpose give preference to a nomination by a nominating body as against any other nomination and, in the case of the administrative panel, give preference to a nomination by members of Dáil Eireann as against an ex-officio nomination.

(4) If, when the provisions of the next preceding sub-section of this section have been complied with in respect of all the provisional panels, any person is found to be entered in two or more provisional panels, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) the Seanad returning officer shall retain the name of such person on such one of those provisional panels as such person or his agent shall elect;

(b) if such person or his agent (as the case may be) refuses or fails to make such election or neither such person nor his agent is present or reasonably available, the Seanad returning officer shall retain the name of such person on such one of the said provisional panels as the Seanad returning officer shall determine by lot;

(c) the Seanad returning officer shall delete the name of such person from all the said provisional panels except the provisional panel on which he is required, by whichever of the foregoing paragraphs of this sub-section is applicable, to retain the name of such person.

(5) In carrying out the provisions of this Act in relation to the proceedings at the completion of the panels the Seanad returning officer shall have due regard to all decisions of the judicial referee on questions referred to him under this Act by the Seanad returning officer.

(6) All decisions by the Seanad returning officer at the completion of the panels shall be final and conclusive subject only to such reference to the judicial referee as is provided for by this Act.