Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of the Bill is to provide that the Clerk Assistant of the Dáil will perform the functions of the Clerk of the Dáil under the Electoral Acts whenever the post of Clerk of the Dáil is vacant or the Clerk is not available through illness, absence or other cause to fulfil the relevant duties and that the Clerk Assistant of the Seanad will perform the functions of the Clerk of the Seanad under the Electoral Acts whenever the post of Clerk of the Seanad is vacant or the Clerk is not available through illness, absence or other cause to fulfil the relevant duties.

The Electoral Acts provide in many sections that, where the office of Clerk of the Dáil is vacant, the Clerk Assistant of the Dáil shall perform the duties of the Clerk of the Dáil. Similar provision is made in relation to duties of the Clerk of the Seanad. For example, section 4(4) of the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947 provides that whenever the office of Clerk of the Seanad is vacant or the Clerk is unable through illness or other cause to fulfil his or her duties, the Clerk Assistant of the Seanad shall act as Seanad returning officer. Another example is the provision in the Electoral Act 1997 for the establishment of a constituency commission to report on Dáil and European Parliament constituencies. Section 7 of the Act provides that the Clerk of the Seanad shall be a member of the commission. Section 8 of that Act provides that whenever the Clerk of the Seanad is unable to act as a member of the commission through ill health or other cause or where the office is vacant, the Minister may appoint the Clerk Assistant of the Seanad to be a member of the commission.

The Electoral Acts are not, however, consistent in making such provision and this short technical Bill addresses this anomaly in the Acts. The anomaly came to notice when consideration was being given to the making of the by-election order to fill the vacancy in the Seanad arising from the election of Senator Deirdre Clune to the European Parliament in May. The vacancy has arisen on the Oireachtas sub-panel of the Cultural and Educational Panel. The legislative provisions on filling the vacancy are set out in Part 5 of the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947 which requires the Clerk of the Dáil to perform specific functions in the by-election process. These include sending to the Seanad returning officer a "statement of the names, addresses and descriptions of all the members of the Dáil who are then entitled to sit and vote in that House". On receipt of that statement, the Seanad returning officer prepares a list which forms part of the electoral roll for the by-election.

As the office of Clerk of the Dáil is vacant and there is no provision in the 1947 Act for a person other than the Clerk of the Dáil to furnish the necessary statement to the Seanad returning officer in relation to the electoral roll, the by-election could not proceed in accordance with the Act. This anomaly came to light when notice was given last month under section 55 of the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947 of the casual vacancy in the Seanad arising from Senator Deirdre Clune's election to the European Parliament. This is an unsatisfactory and anomalous situation which is addressed in the Bill.

Rather than just dealing with the immediate difficulty of the Seanad by-election, the Government decided to examine the issue more widely. Therefore, the Bill addresses the entire electoral code where similar difficulties could arise in the future, both in regard to the Clerk of the Dáil and the Clerk of the Seanad. It provides that, in certain circumstances, the Clerk Assistant of the Dáil will perform the functions of the Clerk of the Dáil and that the Clerk Assistant of the Seanad will perform the functions of the Clerk of the Seanad. These circumstances arise where either the office of Clerk of the Dáil or the office of Clerk of the Seanad is vacant or the Clerk is unable through illness, absence or other cause to fulfil duties under the Electoral Acts and no provision is made for another person to perform the relevant functions.

I will outline the details of the Bill. Section 1(1) provides that if and so long as the office of Clerk of the Dáil is vacant or the holder of that office is unable through illness, absence or other cause to perform his or her functions under the relevant statutory provisions, the Clerk Assistant of the Dáil shall perform these functions. Section 1(2) lists the "relevant Acts" and "relevant statutory provisions" referred to in section 1(1). The functions are those in the Electoral Acts that are the duties of the Clerk of the Dáil and where no provision is made for any other person to fulfil the duties in the absence of the Clerk. Section 2(1) makes similar provisions for the Seanad. It provides that, if and so long as the office of Clerk of the Seanad is vacant or the holder of that office is unable through illness, absence or other cause to perform his or her functions under the relevant statutory provisions, the Clerk Assistant of the Seanad shall perform these functions. Section 2(2) lists the "relevant Acts" and "relevant statutory provisions" referred to in section 2(1). The functions are those in the Electoral Acts that are the duties of the Clerk of the Seanad and where no provision is made for any other person to fulfil the duties in the absence of the Clerk.

Section 3 contains standard provisions dealing with the Short Title, construction and collective citations.

This is a short technical Bill. The goal is to ensure Dáil and Seanad elections can proceed in accordance with the legislative provisions and requirements when there is a vacancy in the office of Clerk of the Dáil or Clerk of the Seanad or the Clerk is absent for one reason or another. The Bill takes a sensible and pragmatic approach to addressing the inconsistencies in the Electoral Acts on this point and I commend it to the House.