S.I. No. 128/1992:

REFERENDUM (SPECIAL DIFFICULTY) ORDER, 1992.

REFERENDUM (SPECIAL DIFFICULTY) ORDER, 1992.

Whereas it appears to him that, by reason of the interruption of normal postal services, there is a special difficulty in relation to the holding of the referendum on the purposal for the amendment of the Constitution contained in the Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 1992, the Minister for the Environment, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 92 of the Electoral Act, 1963 (No. 19 of 1963), hereby orders as follows:

1. This Order may be cited as the Referendum (Special Difficulty) Order, 1992.

2. In this Order--

"referendum returning officer" means the person appointed by the Minister for the Environment under section 6 of the Referendum Act, 1942 (No. 8 of 1942), to be the referendum returning officer at the referendum on the proposal for the amendment of the Constitution contained in the Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 1992;

"local returning officer" has the same meaning as in the Referendum Acts, 1942 to 1992;

"postal voter" means a person entitled to vote by post at a referendum;

"the Referendum" means the referendum to be held on the proposal for the amendment of the Constitution contained in the Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 1992;

"special voter" means a presidential elector whose name is on the special voters list.

3. (1) The ballot papers and the forms of receipt to be sent to postal voters shall be sent to them by post or in such other manner as the local returning officer considers appropriate.

(2) A postal voter may deliver or send his ballot paper by post or in any other manner to the local returning officer and a postal ballot paper which is received by the local returning officer before the close of the poll shall not be rejected solely on the grounds that it was not sent to the local returning officer by post.

(3) The local returning officer shall send to each postal voter a notification that the ballot paper may be delivered or sent to the local returning officer by post or in any other manner.

(4) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (c) of section 1 of the Referendum (Amendment) Act, 1992 , copies of the statements referred to in paragraph (a) of the said section 1 may be delivered or sent to special voters by post or in such other manner as the local returning officer considers appropriate and shall be so delivered or sent as to reach the special voters not later than the time of the delivery to them of the documents referred to in section 10 (1) of the Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1986 (No. 35 of 1986).

(5) The local returning officer, instead of sending a polling card to each elector, may take such steps as he considers appropriate for the purpose of informing electors of the polling day and of the place at which each elector will be entitled to vote.

(6) The referendum returning officer may take such steps as he considers appropriate for the purpose of informing voters of the proposal which is the subject of the Referendum and, in particular and without prejudice to the generality of this sub-article, he may cause to be published in such manner as he considers appropriate the statements set out in the Appendix to section 1 of the Referendum (Amendment) Act, 1992 .

(7) The referendum returning officer may take such steps as he considers appropriate for the purpose of informing voters of the provisions of section 20 of the Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1986 .

4. The provisions of the Referendum Acts, 1942 to 1992, and of the Regulations made thereunder as respects the matters referred to in Article 3 are hereby accordingly adapted and modified in relation to the Referendum to the extent necessary to give effect to the provisions of the said Article 3.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for the Environment this

27th day of May, 1992.

MICHAEL SMITH,

Minister for the Environment.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

This Order makes provision in respect of certain difficulties which have arisen, by reason of the interruption of normal postal services in relation to the holding of the Referendum on the Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 1992.