Ring v Attorney General

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Justice Laffoy
• Judgment Date: 20 February 2004
• Neutral Citation: [2004] IEHC 14
• Court: High Court
• Docket Number: [2003 No. 7096 P]
• Date: 20 February 2004

[2004] IEHC 14

THE HIGH COURT

RECORD NO.7096p/2003

RING v. AG

BETWEEN/

MICHAEL RING

PLAINTIFF

AND

ATTORNEY GENERAL

DEFENDANT

Citations:

LOCAL GOVT ACT 2001 S13(A)

LOCAL GOVT (NO 2) ACT 2003 S2

CONSTITUTION ART 5

CONSTITUTION ART 6

CONSTITUTION ART 28(A)

CONSTITUTION ART 40.1

CONSTITUTION ART 40.3

LOCAL GOVT ACT 2001 PART III

LOCAL GOVT ACT 2001 S12

LOCAL GOVT ACT 2001 S14

LOCAL GOVT ACT 2001 S13

LOCAL GOVT ACT 2001 S19

LOCAL GOVT ACT 2001 S13(1)

LOCAL GOVT ACT 2001 S13(2)

LOCAL GOVT ACT 2001 S13(2)(K)

LOCAL GOVT ACT 2001 S13(2)(L)

LOCAL GOVT ACT 2001 S13(2)(M)

LOCAL GOVT ACT 1996 S6(1)

LOCAL GOVT ACT 2001 S(13)1)(I)

LOCAL GOVT (NO 2) ACT 2003 S2(2)

ELECTORAL ACT 1992 S41

COMPETITION ACT 1992 SCHED

LOCAL GOVT (NO 2) ACT 2003 S3

LOCAL GOVT ACT 2001 S237(A)

LOCAL GOVT (NO 2) ACT 2003 S3(3)

CONSTITUTION ART 22

CONSTITUTION ART 12

CONSTITUTION ART 12.4.2

CONSTITUTION ART 28(A)

CONSTITUTION ART 16.2.5

REDMOND V MIN ENVIRONMENT 2001 4 IR 64

CONSTITUTION ART 28(A)(1)

CONSTITUTION ART 28(A)(2)

CONSTITUTION ART 28(A)(3)

CONSTITUTION ART 28(A)(4)

CONSTITUTION ART 16.1.1

CONSTITUTION ART 15.14

CONSTITUTION ART 33.3

CONSTITUTION ART 35.3

CONSTITUTION ART 12.6.3

BYRNE V IRELAND 1972 IR 241

CONSTITUTION ART 16.1.2

CONSTITUTION ART 28(A)(5)

ELECTORAL (AMDT) BILL 1983, IN RE 1984 IR 268

CONSTITUTION ART 16.7

ELECTORAL ACT 1992 S47

NUNZIATO V WONG UNREP 15.9.2000 ONTARIO CA

CONSTITUTION ART 16.1

MCKENNA V AN TAOISEACH & ORS NO 2 1995 2 IR 10

KELLY V MIN ENVIRONMENT & ORS 2002 4 IR 191 2002/14/3422

COUGHLAN V BROADCASTING COMPLAINTS 2000 3 IR 1

QUINN SUPERMARKET V AG 1972 IR 1

HEANEY V IRELAND 1994 3 IR 593

Synopsis:

ELECTIONS AND REFERENDA

Disqualification from local authority membership

Whether constitutional right to stand for election to membership of local authority - Whether interference with right to stand for election to Dáil - Whether infringement of guarantee of equality - Whether interference reasonable and proportionate - Whether Local Government Act disqualifying members of Dáil Éireann from local authority membership unconstitutional - Local Government Act 2001 section 13A (2003/7096p - Laffoy J - 20/2/2004)

Ring v Attorney General - [2004] 1 IR 185 - [2004] 2 ILRM 378

Facts: The plaintiff, who was at the time a member of Dáil Éireann and a member of Mayo County Council, sought a declaration that s. 13A of the Local Government Act 2001 (as inserted by s. 2 of the Local Government (No. 2) Act 2003 was contrary to the Constitution and in particular Articles 5, 6, 16, 28A, 40.1 and 40.3 and was void and of no effect. Section 13A disqualified, inter alia, a member of Dáil Éireann from local authority membership.

Held by Laffoy J. in dismissing the plaintiff's claim that there was no constitutionally protected right to stand for election to membership of a local authority. There being no right to stand for election to a local authority, s. 13 A imposed no constraint on the plaintiff's eligibility for membership of the Dáil. Section 13 A did not infringe the constitutional guarantee of equality and even if it did such interference was reasonable and proportionate.

Reporter: R. W.

1 Justice Laffoy delivered on the 20th February, 2004.

The Claim

2 In these proceedings, the plaintiff, who is currently a member of Dáil Éireann and also a member of Mayo County Council, seeks a declaration that s. 13A of the Local Government Act, 2001(as inserted by s. 2 of the Local Government (No. 2) Act, 2003), is contrary to the Constitution of Ireland and, in particular, Articles 5, 6, 16, 28A, 40.1 and 40.3 thereof and is void and of no effect.

Section 13A within the legislative framework

3 The Local Government Act, 2001(the Act of 2001), which is described in its long title as an act to make further and better provision in relation to local government and, in particular, to consolidate with amendments certain enactments relating generally to local authorities, contains, in Part III, provisions regulating local authority membership. Section 12 deals with eligibility for local authority membership and provides that, subject to s. 14 and to the disqualifications set out in s. 13 and to the provisions of s. 19 relating to co-option, a person is eligible for election or co-option to, and membership of, a local authority, if he or she is a citizen of Ireland or is ordinarily resident in the State and has or will attain the age of eighteen years at the relevant day, which is stipulated.

4 Section 13 of the Act of 2001 deals with disqualifications from local authority membership. Subsection (1) of s. 13 provides as follows:

"Subject to subsection (2), a person is disqualified from being elected or co-opted to, or from being a member of a local authority if he or she-"

5 (a) is a member of the Commission of the European Community, or

6 (b) is a representative in the European Parliament, or

7 (c) is a Judge, Advocate General or Registrar of the Court of Justice of the European Community, or

8 (d) is a member of the Court of Auditors of the European Community, or

9 (e) is a Minister of the Government or a Minister of State or the chairman of Dáil Éireann (An Ceann Comhairle), or the chairman of Seanad Éireann, or

10 (f) is appointed under the Constitution as a Judge or as the Comptroller and Auditor General, or

11 (g) is a member of the Garda Síochána or a wholetime member of the Defence Forces as defined in section 1l(4)(b) of the Electoral Act, 1992, or

12 (h) is a civil servant who is not by terms of employment expressly permitted to be a member of a local authority, or

13 (i) is a person employed by a local authority and is not the holder of a class, description or grade of employment designated by order under section 161(1)(b) or deemed to have been made under that section, or

14 (j) is undergoing a sentence of imprisonment for any term exceeding 6 months imposed by a court of competent jurisdiction in the State, or

15 (k) fails to pay any sum or any portion of any sum charged or surcharged, by an auditor of the accounts of any local authority, upon or against that person, or

16 (l) fails to comply with a final judgment, order or decree of a court of competent jurisdiction, for payment of money due to any local authority, or

17 (m) is convicted of, or has had a conviction confirmed on appeal for, an offence relating to any of the following:

18 (i) fraudulent or dishonest dealings affecting a local authority;

19 (ii) corrupt practice;

20 (iii) acting when disqualified."

21 Subsection (2) of s. 13 deals with the commencement or coming into effect of a disqualification under paras, (k), (l) and (m) of s. 13.

22 Subsection (1) of s. 13 largely re-enacted sub-s. (1) of s. 6 of the Local Government Act, 1994. It omitted one category included in the latter (chairman of certain select committees of the Houses of the Oireachtas), and included a category not found in the latter (certain persons employed by local authorities who are now disqualified by virtue of para, (i) of sub-s. (1) of s. 13). Prior to the enactment of the Act of 1994 (the Act of 1994), a person who was a Minister of the Government or a Minister of State was disqualified from membership of a local authority by virtue of s. 13 of the Local Government Act, 1991.

23 Section 14 of the Act of 2001 prohibits multiple membership of local authorities.

24 The statutory provision at issue in these proceedings, s. 13A, was inserted into the Act of 2001 by virtue of s. 2 of the Local Government (No. 2) Act, 2003(the Act of 2003), which was enacted on the 2 ^nd June, 2003. Section 13A provides:

25 2 "(1) A person who is a member of either House of the Oireachtas is disqualified from being elected or co-opted to, or from being a member of, a local authority.

26 (2) In respect of local elections to be held in the year 2004 and thereafter, section 13(1) shall be read as if the following were substituted for paragraph (e):

27 "(e) is a member of Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann, or""

28 Subsection (2) of s. 2 of the Act of 2003 provides that the section comes into operation and applies with respect to the local elections to be held in the year 2004 and thereafter. Local elections are due to be held in June, 2004.

29 Eligibility for membership of Dáil Éireann is governed by s. 41 of the Electoral Act, 1992, as amended, which provides as follows:-

"A person who -"

30 (a) is not a citizen or Ireland, or

31 (b) has not reached the age of 21 years, or

32 (c) is a member of the Commission of the European Communities, or

33 (d) is a Judge, Advocate General or Registrar of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, or

34 (e) is a member of the Court of Auditors of the European Communities, or

35 (f) is a member of the Garda Síochána, or

36 (g) is a wholetime member of the Defence Forces as defined as defined in section 11(4), or

37 (h) is a civil servant who is not by the terms of his employment expressly permitted to be a member of the Dáil, or

38 (i) is a person of unsound mind, or

39 (j) is undergoing a sentence of imprisonment for any term exceeding six months, whether with or without hard labour, or of penal servitude for any period imposed by a court of competent jurisdiction in the State, or

40 (k) is an undischarged bankrupt under an adjudication by a court of competent jurisdiction in the State,

41 shall not be eligible for election as a member, or, subject to section 42(3) for membership, of the Dáil."

42 Under a variety of enactments membership of either House of the Oireachtas disqualifies a person from being a member of a statutory authority or board. For example, the Schedule to the Competition Act, 1991, provides that a person who is, for the time being, entitled under the Standing Orders of either House of the Oireachtas to sit therein shall be disqualified from...