Mr. Eoghan Murphy, T.D., Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, has today (25 March 2019) made orders appointing Friday, 24th May 2019 as the polling day and the hours of 7.00a.m. to 10.00p.m. to be the hours of polling at both the European Parliament election and the local elections.
The Minister has appointed Barry Ryan, a Principal Officer in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, to be the chief returning officer for the European Parliament election. He has also appointed returning officers for the three European Parliament constituencies in which 13 MEPs are to be elected for the 2019-2024 parliamentary term.
Mr. Fergus Gallagher, Dublin County Sheriff, will be returning officer for the 4 seat Dublin constituency. Mr. Fintan J Murphy, Mayo County Registrar, will be returning officer for the 4 seat Midlands-North-West constituency. Mr. Martin Harvey, Cork City Sheriff, will be returning officer for the 5 seat South constituency. The three constituencies are specified in the European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2019.
European election candidate nominations
The returning officers for the three European constituencies will in the coming days give public notice of the times for receiving nominations and of the application requirements.
Local election candidate nominations
The local authority returning officers for local elections will also give public notice of the times for receiving nominations and of the application requirements.
Voter registration
A person eligible to vote but not yet registered as an elector still has time to apply for entry in the supplement to the register to be published before polling day and so be able to vote on 24th May. To be eligible, a person must be 18 years of age or over on or before polling day and be ordinarily resident in the constituency.
For inclusion in the supplement to the register, a person completes the relevant application form (RFA2), which can be downloaded from www.checktheregister.ie or can be obtained from city, county, and city and county councils. Application forms will need to be received by the registration authority for the area in which the applicant is resident not later than Tuesday, 7th May 2019. For those seeking inclusion in the supplement to the postal and special voters lists, the relevant application forms will need to be received by the registration authority not later than Sunday, 28 April 2019.
Election posters
With arrangements for the 2019 local elections now set, the Minister clarified the time period during which candidates can exhibit election posters. Candidates can only erect posters from 24th April 2019, which is 30 days before the polling date. There is a requirement for candidates to remove all posters within 7 days of the poll.