Electoral Act, 1963
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Chapter III. The Poll. | ||
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Polling districts and polling places. |
22.—(1) The council of a county or corporation of a county borough may, after consultation with the returning officer for Dáil elections in respect of the county or county borough and in accordance with regulations made by the Minister, make a scheme dividing the county or county borough into polling districts for the purposes of Dáil elections and elections of members of local authorities within the meaning of Part VI of this Act and appointing a polling place for each polling district. | |
(2) A scheme under this section made by the council of a county or corporation of a county borough shall come into operation— | ||
(a) if, but only if, it is confirmed by order under the next subsection, and | ||
(b) on the day specified in that behalf in such order. | ||
(3) As soon as may be after they have made a scheme under this section, the council of a county or corporation of a county borough shall submit the scheme to the Minister for confirmation and the Minister shall by order confirm the scheme with or without modification or refuse to confirm it. | ||
(4) A scheme in force under this section may, and shall if the Minister so directs, be revoked or amended by a subsequent scheme under this section. | ||
(5) A polling place appointed by a scheme under this section shall be an area and may be within or outside the county, county borough, constituency or electoral area in which the polling district is situate, but shall be such as to give the electors allocated to it reasonable facilities for voting. | ||
(6) Where the Minister, either of his own motion or on representation made to him, becomes satisfied that the polling districts or polling places (or any of them) named in a scheme in force under this section do not meet the reasonable requirements of the electors, the Minister may require the council of a county or corporation of a county borough concerned to amend the scheme as he considers proper and, if they do not do so within one month, the Minister may himself amend the scheme by a further scheme. | ||
(7) The making of a scheme under this section shall be, in the case of the council of a county, a reserved function for the purposes of the County Management Acts, 1940 to 1955, and, in the case of the corporation of a county borough, a reserved function for the purposes of the Acts relating to the management of the county borough. | ||
(8) Until the first scheme made under this section by the council of a county or corporation of a county borough comes into operation, the polling districts and polling places existing in relation to the county or county borough immediately before the commencement of this section shall continue, and after the coming into operation of such first scheme, any reference to a polling district or polling place in any Act, order or regulation shall, where appropriate, be construed in relation to such county or county borough as a reference to a polling district or polling place under a scheme in force under this section. | ||
(9) Rule 13 of Part I of the Fifth Schedule to the Principal Act is hereby amended by the addition thereto of “but the foregoing provisions of this Rule shall be subject to the proviso that, where by reason of any difficulty, a polling station or a sufficient number of polling stations cannot be provided at the appointed polling place, the returning officer may provide a polling station or polling stations at any other convenient place”. | ||
(10) An election shall not be questioned on the grounds of any non-compliance with the provisions contained in this section or any informality in regard to polling districts, places or stations. |