Global Initiative to Enfranchise People with Disabilities: Ireland - www.electionaccess.org
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Ireland

General Right to Vote
Constitution
(1937, last amended 2009)

  • Article 16, section 1, subsection 2 states, "(i) All citizens, and (ii) such other persons in the State as may be determined by law, without distinction of sex who have reached the age of eighteen years who are not disqualified by law and comply with the provisions of the law relating to the election of members of the House of Representatives, shall have the right to vote at an election for members of the House of Representatives."

Exclusion Based on Intellectual Disability
Constitution
(1937, last amended 2009)

  • Article 16, section 1, subsection 2 states, "Every citizen without distinction of sex who has reached the age of twenty-one years, and who is not placed under disability or incapacity by this Constitution or by law, shall be eligible for membership of the House of Representatives."

Electoral Law
Electoral Act, 1992

  • Section 41 states, “A person who...(i) is a person of unsound mind...shall not be eligible for election as a member, or, subject to section 42(3), for membership, of the Dáil.”

Voter Assistance
Electoral Law
Electoral Act, 1992

  • Section 98 states, “No person shall be admitted to the polling station other than...(f) companions of Dáil electors whose sight is so impaired or who are otherwise so physically incapacitated that they are unable to vote without assistance, while such companions are assisting these electors.”
  • Section 100 states, “Where, not less than 7 days before polling day at a Dáil election, a Dáil elector, whose name is not on the postal voters list or the special voters list, satisfies the returning officer that he is unable, by reason of physical illness of physical disability suffered by him, to vote at the polling station at which he would otherwise be entitled to vote, the returning officer may, if he is of opinion that it would be more convenient for the elector because of his physical illness of physical disability to vote at another polling station situated in the same constituency, in writing authorize the elector to vote at such polling station as may be specified in the authorization instead of the polling station at which the elector would otherwise be entitled to vote.”
  • Section 103 states
  • Where a Dáil elector applying for a ballot paper satisfies the presiding officer that his sight is so impaired or that he is otherwise so physically incapacitated or that he is unable to read or write to such an extent that he is unable to vote without assistance this section shall apply.
  • This section provides the text of an oath such an elector may be required to take. See the text of the law (link at bottom) for the oath itself.
  • Where this section applies in the case of a Dáil elector who satisfies the presiding officer that his sight is so impaired or that he is otherwise so physically incapacitated that he is unable to vote without assistance, the elector may request that his ballot paper shall be marked for him by a companion and, subject to subsection (4), the companion may go with the elector into one of the compartments in the polling station and there shall mark the ballot paper for the elector and shall fold it and show the back of the folded paper to the presiding officer so as to disclose the official mark and forthwith place the paper in the ballot box.
  • The presiding officer may, and if required by an personation agent present in the polling station shall, put the companion before delivery of the ballot paper, the following questions or any one or more of them:
  • Have you attained the age of sixteen years?
  • Have you marked as a companion more than one ballot paper in this election?
  • Are you a candidate at this election?
  • Are you an agent of a candidate at this election?
  • Where this section applies and -
  • The Dáil elector is unable to read or write, or
  • The Dáil elector does not request that his ballot paper shall be marked for him by a companion, or
  •  The Dáil elector having so requested, the marking of his ballot paper by the companion would be in contravention of subsection (4),

The presiding officer shall, in the presence of the elector and the personation agents and no other person, mark a ballot paper as instructed by such elector and shall then fold it and place it in the ballot box

  • A request made by a Dáil elector within two hours before the hour fixed by the Minister for the close of poll to have his ballot paper marked for him under this section otherwise than by a companion may be refused by the presiding officer if, in his opinion, having regard to the number of Dáil electors then coming in to vote or likely to come in to vote before the close of the poll, his acceding to such request would interfere with the proper discharge of his duties or would unduly obstruct the voting of other Dáil electors.
  • Where a ballot paper is to be marked pursuant to subsection (5) the presiding officer may assist the Dáil elector by reading out in full from the ballot paper the particulars stated in respect of each candidate, but he shall not act on any written instruction.
  • Where, pursuant to this section, a person has marked as a companion two ballot papers at a Dáil election, he shall not, at that election, mark as a companion any other ballot paper.
  • A person shall not mark as a companion a ballot paper at a Dáil election if he has not reached the age of 16 years or if he is a candidate or agent of a candidate at that election.

Electoral Law
Electoral (Amendment) Act
(1996)

  • Section 2, subsection (a), inserts the following in section 28 after subsection (1) of the Electoral Act, 1992, "Each local authority shall, in making a scheme under this section, endeavor to appoint as polling places only such areas as shall allow the returning officer to provide at each polling place at least one polling station which is accessible to wheelchair users."
  • Section 2, subsection (b) inserts the following in section 28 after subsection (5) of the Electoral Act, 1992, "Where it is not practicable to provide a polling station which is accessible to wheelchair users at a polling place appointed for a polling district by a scheme for the time being in force in respect of a county or county borough, the local authority may appoint an alternative polling place at which it is practicable to provide a polling station which is accessible to wheelchair users for that polling district."
  • See section 3 for several amendments to the Electoral Act, 1992 that require that polling stations, ballot boxes, and other voting apparatuses be accessible to wheelchair users, the visually impaired, and other physically disabled electors.

European Parliament Elections Act
(1997)

  • Section 59, subsection (f) contains the same provision as section 98 of the 1992 Elections Act.
  • Section 64 discusses voting by incapacitated persons, and it contains the same provisions as section 103 of the 1992 elections act.

Presidential Elections Act
(1993)

  • Section 43, subsection (2) states, “Where, not less than 7 days before polling day at a presidential election, a presidential elector whose name is not on the postal voters list or the special voters list, satisfies the local returning officer that he is unable, by reason of physical illness or physical disability suffered by him, to vote at the polling station at which he would otherwise be entitled to vote and the local returning officer is of the opinion that it would be more convenient for the elector because of his physical illness or physical disability vote at another polling station in the same constituency, the elector may, if so authorized in writing by the local returning officer in such form as may be directed by the Minister, vote at such other polling station in the same constituency as may be specified in the authorization.”

Off-Site Voting
Electoral Law
Electoral Act, 1992

  • Section 17, subsection (2) states, “The registration authority shall enter in the special voters list the name of every elector who applies to be so entered and who satisfies the registration authority that - (a) he is unable to go in person to vote at the polling place for his polling district by reason of his physical illness or physical disability; and (b) the physical illness or physical disability is likely to continue for the period of continuance in force of the register of electors in respect of which the application to be entered as a special voter is made.”
  • Section 82 states...
  •  At a Dáil election, a presiding officer shall, in the presence of a member of the Garda Síochána, deliver to the special voter the form of declaration of identity referred to in section 81.
  • No person other than the special presiding officer and the member of the Garda Síochána shall be present when the special voter is voting pursuant to this section.
  •  The special voter shall complete the declaration of identity and shall sign it or, if he is unable to write, place his mark thereon and the said signature, or as the case may be mark, shall be witnessed by the special presiding officer.
  • The special presiding officer shall, on being satisfied as to the identity of the special voter, mark a ballot paper with the official mark and deliver it to the special voter together with a ballot paper envelope.
  • The special presiding officer shall, as soon as he has given the ballot paper and the ballot paper envelope to the special voter, place a mark against the name of the special voter concerned on a copy of the special voters list to denote that a ballot paper has been issued to such voter but without showing the number of the ballot paper so issued.
  • The special voter shall thereupon record in secret his vote upon the ballot paper and, when he has so recorded his vote, shall fold the ballot paper so that his vote is concealed and place the ballot paper, so folded, in the ballot paper envelope and seal the envelope and hand the ballot paper envelope to the special presiding officer.
  • The special presiding officer shall, as soon as he has received the ballot paper envelope, place it together with the completed declaration in a covering envelope which he shall thereupon seal and to which he shall affix a label in the form directed by the Minister signed by himself and the member of the Garda Síochána

Electoral (Amendment) Act
(1996)

  • Section 4 extends the postal provisions of the Electoral Act, 1992, to disabled persons with the following insertion into the 1992 act after paragraph (c) of section 14, “(d) a person who is ordinarily resident at his residence, applies to be so entered and satisfies the registration authority that - (i) such person is unable to go in person to vote at the polling place for his polling district by reason of his physical illness or physical disability, and (ii) the physical illness or physical disability is likely to contine for a period of continuance in force of the register of electors in respect to which the application to be entered as a postal vote is made.”

European Parliament Elections Act
(1997)

  • Section 61 contains the same provisions as section 17 of the 1992 Elections Act.
  • Section 45 addresses voting by special voters, and it contains the same provisions as section 82 of the 1992 Elections Act.
 
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