merrion street

Local Government Minister Phil Hogan today made an order appointing Friday 4 October 2013 as the polling day at the referendums on the proposals for the amendments of the Constitution contained in the Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013 and the Thirty-third Amendment of the Constitution (Court of Appeal) Bill 2013.

Polling will take place between the hours of 7 am and 10 pm.

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 referendums.

Every Irish citizen who is 18 years of age and included in the register of electors is entitled to vote at the referendums. The total electorate currently stands at some 3.1 million.

Persons who are eligible to vote but who are not registered as electors can apply up to Tuesday 17 September 2013 to their local authority for entry on the supplement to the register of electors to be published before polling day and so be able to vote on 4 October 2013. Application forms (RFA2) 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.

The Minister also took the opportunity to encourage Local Returning Officers to consider employing unemployed people on polling day and at the subsequent counts in each constituency in making their arrangements for the conduct of the polls.

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.