Referendum (amendment) act, 1972

• Act Number: 23
• Enactment Date: 11 November 1972

Number 23 of 1972
REFERENDUM (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1972
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section 1. Constitutional referenda in relation to Fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 1972, and Fifth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 1972. 2. Short title, collective citation and construction.
Acts Referred to Electoral Act, 1963 1963, No. 19 Referendum Act, 1942 1942, No. 8
Number 23 of 1972
REFERENDUM (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1972
AN ACT TO AMEND THE REFERENDUM ACTS, 1942 TO 1972. [11th November, 1972]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
	Constitutional referenda in relation to Fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 1972, and Fifth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 1972.	1.—At a constitutional referendum in relation to the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 1972, and at a constitutional referendum in relation to the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 1972—
	(a) a polling card sent under section 64 (1) of the Electoral Act, 1963 , shall contain the statement set out in the Appendix to this section,
	(b) a polling card shall also be sent by the local returning officer for a constituency to every elector whose name is on the register of Dáil electors for such constituency and is on the postal voters list for such constituency,
	(c) a polling card sent under paragraph (b) of this section—
	(i) shall indicate that it is for a postal voter and shall accordingly not state the number and place referred to in the said section 64 (1),
	(ii) shall contain the statement referred to in paragraph (a) of this section, and
	(iii) shall be sent by post to the elector at the same time as his ballot paper is sent, being addressed to him at the same address as is stated on the envelope in which the ballot paper is sent.
	(d) subsections (3) to (6) of the said section 64 shall apply in relation to polling cards sent under paragraph (b) of this section,
	(e) copies of the statement referred to in paragraph (a) of this section shall be displayed by a presiding officer in and in the precincts of his polling station:
	Provided that no referendum shall be invalidated by reason of any failure to display such copies in or in the precincts of any polling station,
	(f) in applying Rule 18 (inserted by the Electoral Act, 1963) of the First Schedule to the Referendum Act, 1942 , the following paragraph shall be substituted for paragraph (5)—
	“(5) (a) Where a ballot paper is to be marked pursuant to paragraph (3) of this Rule, the presiding officer may assist the voter by reading out in full from the ballot paper the proposal stated therein and asking the voter ‘Do you approve of or do you object to that Bill becoming law?’ and shall then, unless it is a case to which subparagraph (b) of this paragraph applies, mark the ballot paper in accordance with the answer of the voter, but he shall not act on any written instruction.
	(b) Where the voter fails to understand the import of the said question, the presiding officer—
	(i) shall read out to the voter such statement of the proposal which is the subject of the referendum as is set out in...