BYELECTIONS should be held within six months of the death or resignation of a TD, according to the final report of an Oireachtas committee examining possible electoral reform measures.
The cross-party committee on the Constitution said the principle of equality of representation could be breached if vacancies were not filled within a reasonable time. Three constituencies each have a vacancy for one TD at present: Donegal South West, Dublin South and Waterford.
“The committee recommends that whenever a casual vacancy occurs in the membership of Dáil Éireann, legislation would require that a byelection be held to fill the vacancy within six months of the vacancy occurring,” the report said.
In an alternative suggestion, which would require constitutional amendment, the committee said general election candidates should nominate replacement lists of candidates in the event that they resigned or died.
The voting age for Dáil elections should be reduced from 18 to 17, the committee recommended. This proposal would also require a constitutional amendment.
The committee recommended the Attorney General examine the constitutional implications of introducing a measure under which a proportion of the funds allocated to political parties would be determined by the number of women candidates nominated for election.
However, “any measure which coerced political parties to select certain types of candidates or which imposed a quota in that regard would probably be unconstitutional,” the report said.
The report recommended no change to the number of TDs: 166 TDs should continue to represent 43 constituencies. The committee concluded “that there is not a sufficiently compelling case for reforming the current electoral system at its most fundamental level”. The proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote (PR-STV) system had served Ireland “relatively well” since its adoption in 1922, it said.
However, the method of transferring or distributing surplus votes in Dáil elections should change. Currently, the last parcel of ballot papers received by the newly-elected candidate is examined and the surplus distributed on the basis of the proportions of the next highest preferences as expressed in that parcel of ballots.
The report said the adoption of the so-called Gregory system, used in the Seanad and some elections in the North, would remove the “element of randomness” from the current system. All constituencies should have “not less than” four TDs, although three would suffice “where the geographic size of such a constituency would be disproportionately large”.
In another measure requiring constitutional change, the committee said voting should take place at weekends and over two consecutive days in an attempt to increase participation. “This would facilitate more people in exercising their democratic right to vote,” the report said.
It also called for a voter-education programme, as part of the senior cycle scheme in second-level schools, to promote awareness of the right to vote.
The establishment of an independent electoral commission should be an “urgent priority”, while a citizens’ assembly on electoral reform should also be set up. The commission should take charge of a new voter registration system based upon the allocation of PPS numbers.
Postal voting should be extended to voters who would be unable to attend their designated polling station on election day “due to conflicting commitments” and the commission should also encourage those who are entitled to vote by post to do so.
Responsibility for the drawing of constituency boundaries should also come under the commissions remit, the committee said.
