Electoral Commission (Ireland)


An independent electoral commission is planned by the current Irish government to oversee the conduct of all elections in the state. This responsibility is at present distributed among various government departments, statutory agencies and components of the Oireachtas. The governments of 2011–2016 and 2016–2020 similarly planned an electoral commission, which was not implemented.

History

An electoral commission was recommended by several official reports, including the Second Report of the Commission on Electronic Voting. Private member's bills to establish an electoral commission were introduced by Ciarán Lynch in 2008 and 2012.
In 2008, the then Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government commissioned and published a study on introducing an electoral commission, carried out by academics from University College Dublin. After the 2011 general election, the Fine Gael and Labour parties formed a coalition government whose programme included a commitment to establish an electoral commission. Such a commission was also recommended in the Constitutional Convention's 2013 report on the system of elections to Dáil Éireann, which was also endorsed the government. Alan Kelly, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, outlined progress of the plan in Seanad Éireann in December 2014, The government published a consultation paper in January 2015, and said it intended to introduce a bill in the Oireachtas in 2015. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht discussed the plan with Alan Kelly on 10 March 2015. Kelly stated that drafting the enabling bill would begin when the committee had consulted and reported back to him, that he expected the bill to be enacted by the end of 2015, that the commission would not be established before the next general election, and that functions should be assigned to it on a phased basis. In April 2015 the committee invited submissions on the government's consultation paper from interest groups, and held hearings with them in June and July. The committee's report was launched on 14 January 2016.
After the 2016 general election, a minority coalition government was formed by Fine Gael and independents with confidence and supply support from Fianna Fáil. Its programme commits to establishing an electoral commission "independent of Government and directly accountable to the Oireachtas". The government's September 2016 list of planned legislation includes the Electoral Commission Bill in the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government's "medium and long term" plans. In June 2017, the Department was preparing a Regulatory Impact Analysis. In October 2017, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said there was "no timeframe" for establishing the commission and it was "very much a long-term project". In September 2018 John Paul Phelan, Minister of State for Local Government and Electoral Reform, gave an update to the Seanad. He said a priority was "modernisation" of the electoral register, which different local authorities had been maintaining in divergent manners; this would take "two to three years", involve "significant public consultation", and proceed separately from work on an Electoral Commission. The Electoral Commission RIA published in November 2018 compared four implementation strategies. The ensuing public consultation received 23 submissions by the closing date of 15 March 2019. In July 2019 Phelan said work was commencing on drafting the General Scheme of an Electoral Commission Bill.
Negotiations after the February 2020 general election led to the formation in June of a Fianna Fáil–Fine Gael–Green coalition, whose programme for government promises an electoral commission by the end of 2021.

Possible functions

The Constitutional Convention took the Australian Electoral Commission and UK Electoral Commission as case studies of possible models for the Irish body. The various official reports list functions which might be performed by the commission, and notes who is currently responsible for them.
FunctionCurrently done bySuggested byNotes
Referendum campaignsReferendum CommissionDECLG, Oir, PFG, RIAThe Referendum Commission could be a subsection of the Electoral Commission
Constituency boundariesConstituency Commission and Local Electoral Area Boundary CommitteesDECLG, Oir, RIA-
Voter education and participation"Generally absent"DECLG, Oir, PFG, RIAThe 2016 government programme says the commission should "look at ways to increase participation in our political process through voter education and turnout".
Returning officersCounty registrars and sheriffsDECLG, RIAThe RIA suggested existing returning officers would continue, under supervision from the Electoral Commission.
Maintaining the electoral registerLocal authorities and the Franchise Section of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local GovernmentDECLG, Oir, PFG, RIAThe Personal Public Service Number system might be used to add people to the electoral register automatically once they reached voting age.
Monitoring of campaign financingStandards in Public Office CommissionDECLG, Oir, PFG, RIA
Maintaining the register of political partiesClerk of the DáilDECLG, Oir, PFG, RIA
Elections to the SeanadVocational panel elections are overseen by the clerk of the Seanad; elections for NUI and Dublin U are overseen by respective universitiesDECLGThe working group established after the defeat of the 2013 Seanad abolition referendum reported in 2015 on proposed reforms, which included radical changes in the Seanad electoral system and the creation of a "Seanad Electoral Commission" to oversee this. The working group's report recognised that the Electoral Commission already proposed by the government would, if established, make a separate Seanad Electoral Commission unnecessary.
Policy, strategy, and researchFranchise SectionOir, RIAThe Oireachtas report emphasises independent research. The 2018 report of the Interdepartmental Group on the Security of Ireland's Electoral Process and Disinformation suggested some policy functions would remain within the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.
Publication of resultsReturning officers, Franchise SectionOir, RIAReturning officers publish summaries in Iris Oifigiúil shortly after the poll; the Department publishes detailed results later. The Oireachtas report addresses real-time official publication online.
Standards for electronic votingN/ARecommended in 2005 by the Commission on Electronic Voting formed after the abortive 2003 e-voting trial.
Countering electoral fraud, post-truth politics, foreign electoral interventionThe 2018 report of the Interdepartmental Group on the Security of Ireland's Electoral Process and Disinformation foresees a role for the Electoral Commission.

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Citations