Medical Council (Election of Registered Medical Practitioners) Regulations 2008

Published date19 February 2008
Statutory Instrument No.23/2008

S.I. No. 23 of 2008

MEDICAL COUNCIL (ELECTION OF REGISTERED MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS) REGULATIONS 2008

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 19th February, 2008.

I, MARY HARNEY, Minister for Health and Children, in exercise of the power conferred on me by section 18(1) of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 (No. 25 of 2007), hereby make the following Regulations:

Citation

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Medical Council (Election of Registered Medical Practitioners) Regulations 2008.

Interpretation

2. In these Regulations—

“Act” means the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 (No. 25 of 2007), as amended by the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2007 (No. 42 of 2007);

“Council” has the meaning assigned to it by section 2 of the Act;

“election” means an election referred to in section 17(1)(f) of the Act;

“first election” means the first election conducted in accordance with these Regulations;

“Minister” means the Minister for Health and Children;

“returning officer”—

(a) in relation to the first election, means the person referred to in Regulation 4(1),

(b) in relation to any other election, means the person appointed under Regulation 4(2) to be the returning officer for the purposes of the election;

“Specialist Division”—

(a) subject to paragraph (b), has the meaning assigned to it by section 2 of the Act,

(b) for the purposes referred to in section 17(8A) of the Act, shall be construed as the Register of Medical Specialists as defined in section 2 of the Act.

Conduct of elections

3. Elections shall be conducted in accordance with these Regulations.

Returning officer

4. (1) The person who for the time being is the Registrar, within the meaning of section 2 of the Medical Practitioners Act 1978 , shall be the returning officer for the purposes of the first election.

(2) The Council shall appoint a person to be a returning officer for the purposes of an election other than the first election.

(3) Subject to the provisions of these Regulations, the returning officer shall be responsible for the conduct of an election.

(4) The Council shall defray the expenses of a returning officer in conducting an election.

Nominations

5. (1) Not later than 4 months before the expiration of the term of office of members of the Council (but, in the case of the first election, on such date or dates as may be decided by the returning officer), there shall be published, on behalf of the returning officer, in one or more daily newspapers circulating in the State, public notice of—

(a) the day and hour (hereinafter referred to as the expiration of the time for receiving nominations) on and at which the period during which the returning officer may receive nomination papers will expire,

(b) the day on which, the time during which and the place at which the returning officer will attend to receive nomination papers, for the election referred to in section 17(1)(f) of the Act in respect of the six descriptions of medical practitioner referred to in section 17(8) of the Act (as construed in accordance with section 17(8A) of the Act in the case of the first election), and

(c) (if a poll is taken) the day and hour on and at which the period during which the returning officer may receive votes will expire.

(2) The notice referred to in paragraph (1) shall be in the form set out in Schedule 1.

(3) The returning officer may arrange for the publication of the notice referred to in paragraph (1) in such other publications as the returning officer considers appropriate.

(4) The expiration of the time for receiving nominations shall be not less than 21 days and not more than 30 days after the first publication of the notice referred to in paragraph (1).

(5) The returning officer shall on the last day for receiving nominations attend to receive nominations between the hours of 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the place appointed by the returning officer for receiving nomination papers. Every nomination paper delivered to the returning officer at any time before the commencement of those hours may be delivered to the returning officer by post or in person and shall be retained by the returning officer and produced by the returning officer at the commencement of those hours and shall for the purpose of these Regulations and all other purposes be deemed to have been delivered to the returning officer at the beginning of those hours.

(6) A candidate for election shall be a registered medical practitioner practising medicine in the State (but excluding any visiting EEA practitioner) on the day preceding the last day for receiving nominations and shall be nominated in writing and such writing shall be subscribed by not less than 10 other registered medical practitioners and shall, together with a completed declaration in the form set out in Schedule 2, be delivered by the candidate in person or by post so as to reach the returning officer at any time between the date the notice referred to in paragraph (1) is published and the expiration of the time for receiving nominations.

(7) Each candidate shall be nominated by a separate nomination paper (except that, subject to paragraph (11), if more than one nomination paper is delivered or given to the returning officer in respect of the same candidate, the nomination papers concerned shall be treated as a single nomination paper for that candidate). The nomination paper shall be in the form set out in Schedule 3. Any elector may subscribe as many nomination papers as the elector may desire.

(8) Each candidate shall be described in the nomination paper in such manner as in the opinion of the returning officer is calculated sufficiently to identify the candidate. The surname of the candidate shall be placed first in the statement of the candidate’s names and the description shall include the registered address of the candidate. A misnomer or inaccurate description of any person or place named in any nomination paper shall not invalidate the paper if in the opinion of the returning officer the misnomer or description of the person or place, as the case may be, is such as to be commonly understood.

(9) No objection to a nomination paper on the ground of any description of the candidate therein not being sufficient or not being in compliance with these Regulations shall be allowed or deemed valid unless the objection is made by the returning officer or to the returning officer by some other person during the time for receiving nominations.

(10) A candidate may before the expiration of the time for receiving nominations but not afterwards withdraw from candidature by furnishing a notice to that effect, signed by the candidate, to the returning officer.

(11) A candidate may not, at the same election, stand for election in more than one of the six descriptions of medical practitioner referred to in section 17(8) of the Act (as construed in accordance with section 17(8A) of the Act in the case of the first election) and, accordingly, if the returning officer has received a duly completed nomination paper for a candidate for election in one of those descriptions of medical practitioner, the returning officer shall reject all subsequent nomination papers for that candidate in any other of those descriptions of medical practitioner received by the returning officer (including any such nomination papers received on the same day as the first-mentioned nomination paper).

Death of candidate

6. If a candidate dies at any time between the candidate’s nomination for election under these Regulations and the declaration of election of candidates by the returning officer, the nomination of that candidate shall be disregarded and any votes cast for that candidate shall also be disregarded.

Election

7. (1) If there is only one duly nominated candidate falling within paragraph (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) or (f) of section 17(8) of the Act (as construed in accordance with section 17(8A) of the Act in the case of the first election), the returning officer shall, subject to compliance with section 17(1)(f) of the Act, forthwith declare that candidate to be elected in so far as that paragraph is concerned.

(2) If there is more than one duly nominated candidate falling within paragraph (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) or (f) of section 17(8) of the Act (as construed in accordance with section 17(8A) of the Act in the case of the first election), a poll shall be taken by the returning officer in the following manner:

(a) the returning officer shall cause to be prepared—

(i) ballot papers;

(ii) declarations of identity in the form set out in Schedule 4;

(iii) interior envelopes in which the ballot paper is to be placed (hereinafter referred to as the ballot paper envelope);

(iv) envelopes in which the ballot paper envelope is to be placed with the declaration of identity form (hereinafter referred to as the covering envelope); and

(b) ballot papers shall be in the form set out in Schedule 5. Each ballot paper shall contain the names of candidates standing nominated and the description as shown in their respective nomination papers. The names shall be arranged alphabetically in the order of their surnames or, if there are 2 or more candidates bearing the same surname, in the alphabetical order of their other names;

(c) the returning officer shall fix the day and hour on and at which the period during which the returning officer may receive votes shall expire and such day shall not be less than 35 days and not more than 50 days after the expiration of the time for receiving nominations;

(d) not more...

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