Referendum on the Thirty-first Amendment of the Constitution (Children) Bill 2012
Mr. Phil Hogan, T.D., Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, has today (8thOctober 2012) made an order appointing Saturday 10 November 2012 as the polling day at the referendum on the proposal for the amendment of the Constitution contained in the Thirty-first Amendment of the Constitution (Children) Bill 2012. Polling will take place between the hours of 9 am and 10 pm. Taking the poll on a Saturday allows for a reduction in the hours of poll and this will generate savings in excess of €600,000. The Saturday poll also means that closure of hundreds of schools will be avoided.
The Minister has appointed Ríona Ní Fhlanghaile, a Principal Officer in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, to be the referendum returning officer for the referendum.
Every Irish citizen who is 18 years of age and included in the register of electors is entitled to vote at the referendum. The total electorate currently stands at some 3.1 million.
Persons who are eligible to vote but who are not registered as electors still have time to apply for entry on the supplement to the register of electors to be published before polling day and so be able to vote on 10 November 2012. Application forms can be downloaded from www.checktheregister.ie or can be obtained from City or County Councils. To be eligible for inclusion in the supplement to the register a person must be an Irish citizen, must be 18 years of age by polling day and must be ordinarily resident in the State.
An application for inclusion in the supplement to the Register must be signed by the applicant in the presence of a member of the Garda Síochána from the applicant’s local Garda station who must first be satisfied as to the person’s identity before signing, dating and stamping the form. The Garda may request photographic or other identification. Where the applicant establishes in writing that he is unable to progress the application in this way, the form can be signed by the applicant in the presence of an official of the registration authority who is satisfied as to his or her identity. Again, photographic or other identification may be required. If neither option is viable due to physical illness or physical disability, the application form must be accompanied by a medical certificate. The final date for receipt of completed application forms by the relevant City or County Council is Tuesday 23rd October 2012.
If a person is eligible to vote by post, or is unable to vote in person due to a physical illness or physical disability and is resident in a hospital, nursing home or similar institution, and they are not on the Postal Voters List or Special Voters List, as appropriate, they can apply for inclusion in the supplement to those lists. Application forms are available from City and County Councils who will advise people of the appropriate arrangements for the completion of the relevant form. Completed forms must be received by the relevant City or Council not later than Wednesday 10th October 2012.
Referring to the forthcoming referendum, the Minister took the opportunity to encourage Local Returning Officers to consider employing unemployed people on polling day and at the subsequent counts in each constituency.
“While the efficient conduct of polls and the count is clearly dependent on having sufficiently skilled and experienced people, I would ask all Local Returning Officers to consider employing suitable persons who are unemployed”, the Minister said.