Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1980

Temporary arrangements with respect to certain polling districts.

7.—(1) Where a polling district existing at the passing of this Act is not wholly situate within one of the constituencies specified in the Schedule to this Act, the appropriate officer, after consultation with the returning officer for the constituency concerned, shall, with respect to the part of the polling district situate in a constituency so specified—

(a) join it or parts of it with any adjoining polling district or districts, or

(b) constitute it as a polling district and appoint a polling place for it.

(2) An arrangement made pursuant to paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section—

(a) shall be subject to confirmation by the Minister who may confirm the arrangement with or without modification,

(b) shall not have effect in relation to any bye-election occurring before the dissolution of Dáil Éireann which next occurs after the passing of this Act, and

(c) shall have effect until (and only until) the first scheme under section 22 of the Electoral Act, 1963 , in relation to the county or county borough in which the polling district is situate comes into operation after the passing of this Act.

(3) In this section “the appropriate officer” means—

(a) in relation to a polling district situate in a county borough, the manager for the purposes of the Acts relating to the management of the county borough (including a person duly appointed either as deputy for such manager or to act in the place of such manager during his absence or incapacity or during a vacancy in his office),

(b) in relation to any other polling district, the secretary of the council of the county in which the polling district is situate (including a person duly appointed either as deputy for such secretary or to act in the place of such secretary).