Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 29th March, 2019.

I, EOGHAN MURPHY, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 9 (4) of the European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2019 (No. 7 of 2019), hereby order as follows:

1. This Order may be cited as the European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2019 (Commencement) Order 2019.

2. The 22nd day of March 2019 is appointed as the day on which the following provisions of the European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2019 (No. 7 of 2019) shall come into operation:

(a) section 1 ;

(b) section 3;

(c) subsections (a) and (b) of section 4 ;

(d) section 5 ;

(e) subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g) and (k) of section 6 ;

(f) section 7 ;

(g) section 8 ;

(h) section 9 .

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

22 March, 2019.

EOGHAN MURPHY,

Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation).

This Order brings into operation sections 1 , 3 , 4 (a), 4 (b), 5 , 6 (a), 6 (b), 6 (c), 6 (d), 6 (e), 6 (f), 6 (g), 6 (k), 7 , 8 and 9 of the European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2019 . These provisions amend the European Parliament Elections Act 1997 to provide for: -

– a revised timeframe for the making of a polling day order and for the giving of a notice of election;

– the European Parliament constituencies and the number of members to be elected from each such constituency for the 2019-2024 parliamentary term;

– the inclusion of the names of European political parties on ballot papers; and

– a number of technical amendments in connection with the exchange of information requirements between Member States under the candidate nomination process.