European Assembly Elections Act, 1977

Casual vacancies.

15.—(1) Where a casual vacancy occurs amongst the persons elected to the Assembly under this Act or appointed under this section, the procedure for filling the vacancy shall be as follows:

(a) subject to paragraph (b) of this subsection, the vacancy shall be filled by the appointment by Dáil Éireann of a person who is eligible for election under this Act to the Assembly,

(b) in case by reason of the last preceding Assembly election the relevant place in the Assembly was held by a person who was at that election a candidate of a political party which at the time of the said election was and for the time being is registered pursuant to this Act in the Register of Political Parties, the person appointed under this subsection to fill the vacancy shall, if, but only if, the nomination is made within three months of the day on which the vacancy occured, be a person nominated by that political party.

(2) A person appointed under subsection (1) of this section shall, unless he sooner dies, resigns, becomes disqualified for election under this Act to the Assembly, is removed from office or otherwise ceases to be a representative in the Assembly, hold office as such a representative for the residue of the term for which the representative whom he replaces would have held office had he not ceased to hold office.

(3) In this section “a casual vacancy” means,

(a) a vacancy occasioned by a person who though elected to the Assembly pursuant to this Act is, by virtue of any provision laid down under any or all of the treaties, not entitled to assume the office of representative in the Assembly,

(b) a vacancy occasioned by a person having ceased to be a representative in the Assembly otherwise than by the effluxion of time or in consequence of the making of an order under section 17 of this Act by the High Court.