Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 35:

In page 50, between lines 30 and 31, to insert the following:

“Electoral Register for Seanad Éireann

69.(1) A register of persons for the time being entitled to vote in every Seanad general election shall be established and maintained by the Commission. (2) In respect of the persons who are registered to vote in a Seanad general election, the electoral register shall record the details mentioned in subsection (3) and shall be divided into four divisions as follows—

(a) Division 1 – Register of Irish citizens who are resident in Ireland,

(b) Division 2 – Register of persons entitled to claim Irish citizenship in Northern Ireland and who reside in Northern Ireland or in the State,

(c) Division 3 – Register of Irish citizens who hold a current and valid Irish passport and who reside outside the State,

(d) Division 4 – Register of Irish citizens holding a requisite qualification and who are graduates of an institution of higher education in the State, and

(e) Division 5 – Register of—(i)serving members of the Dáil,

(ii) members of the outgoing Seanad, and

(iii) serving members of local authorities.

(3) The electoral register shall contain the name, geographical address and postcode of each of the persons constituting the electorate at a Seanad election and shall indicate the constituency or sub-panel in respect of which the voter is eligible to cast his or her vote.

(4) A person shall not be eligible for inclusion in any Division of the electoral register unless they have attained the age of eighteen years.

(5) The Minister may prescribe the evidence which is required to establish eligibility for inclusion in any Division of the electoral register.

(6) An elector whose name is included in the electoral register for a Seanad election shall notify the Commission in the prescribed form of a change to the address at which he or she ordinarily resides.

(7) The Commission shall in advance of each Seanad general election prepare a supplemental electoral register.

(8) A person who uses information in the register prepared under this section, being information which is excluded from the edited register, for a purpose, other than an electoral or other statutory purpose, shall be guilty of an offence.

(9) A person who is convicted of an offence under subsection

(8) shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a class A fine, or to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months, or to both a fine and imprisonment.”.