Electoral Commission (Ireland)

The Electoral Commission (An Coimisiún Toghcháin) is an election commission with responsibility for the oversight of all elections in Ireland, including electoral operations, constituency reviews and electoral integrity. It was established in 2023. Prior to its establishment, some of these functions had been carried out by various government departments, local government officials, statutory agencies and components of the Oireachtas and in the case of Boundaries by a judge led commission, while other functions are novel to the new Commission.

Electoral Commission

An Coimisiún Toghcháin
Agency overview
Formed	9 February 2023
Preceding agencies	Constituency Commission Referendum Commission Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee
Jurisdiction	Ireland
Headquarters	Dublin Castle
Agency executives	Marie Baker, Chairperson Art O'Leary, Chief Executive Officer
Key document	Electoral Reform Act 2022
Website	Official website

A proposal for an electoral commission was first considered in a government report commissioned in 2008, and was developed by a series of governments since then, before the publication of the heads of a bill in 2021.

Organisation

The Electoral Commission was established on 9 February 2023 under the Electoral Reform Act 2022 by order of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O'Brien.^[1][2]

In March 2021 it was announced that Art O'Leary, upon completion in June 2021 of his seven-year term as Secretary General to the President, would be appointed to work on the preparatory institutional and administrative arrangements for the commission, pending its formal establishment.^[3]

The 2023 budget earmarks €5.7m for the commission and a further €2.77m to enable local authorities to modernise the electoral register.^[4]

Membership

The Commission may consist of between 7 and 9 members: a chair appointed from the judiciary, two ex officio members, and four to six ordinary members.^[5]

Members of the Electoral Commission

Name	Role	Notes
Marie Baker	Chairperson	Judge of the Supreme Court^[6]
Ger Deering	Ex-officio member	Ombudsman
Peter Finnegan	Ex-officio member	Clerk of Dáil Éireann
John Curran	Ordinary member	Former Minister of State (4 year term)
Maura Quinn		4 year term
Alex Attwood		Former MLA, member of the UK Electoral Commission (3 year term)
Caroline Fennell		Member of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (3 year term).^[7]^[8]^[9]

Functions

The functions of the Commission are defined by the Electoral Reform Act 2022.

Electoral operations

• Referendum campaigns
• Constituency and electoral boundary reviews
• Registration of political parties
• Oversight of the electoral register^[10]

Electoral integrity

• Regulation of online electoral information (This part of the Electoral Reform Act 2022 (Part 5) has not yet been commenced)
• Regulation of online advertising during election periods (This part of the Electoral Reform Act 2022 (Part 4) has not yet been commenced)
• Post electoral event reviews
• Advice^[11]

Reports

• On 30 August 2023, it published a review of Dáil constituency boundaries, in which it recommended an increase in the size of the Dáil from 160 to 174 TDs, to be elected in 43 constituencies.^[12] It included the establishment of new constituencies:
  • Dublin Fingal East
  • Dublin Fingal West
  • Wicklow–Wexford

and the re-establishment of historic constituencies:

• Laois
• Offaly
• Tipperary North
• Tipperary South

Background

An electoral commission was recommended by several official reports, including the Second Report (2006) of the Commission on Electronic Voting.^[13] Private member's bills to establish an electoral commission were introduced by Ciarán Lynch in 2008 and 2012.^[14]

In 2008, the 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.^[15] 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.^[16] Such a commission was also recommended in the Constitutional Convention's 2013 report on the system of elections to Dáil Éireann (lower house of the Oireachtas),^[17] which was also endorsed the government.^[18] Alan Kelly, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, outlined progress of the plan in Seanad Éireann in December 2014,^[19][20] The government published a consultation paper in January 2015, and said it intended to introduce a bill in the Oireachtas in 2015.^[21] 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.^[22] In April 2015 the committee invited submissions on the government's consultation paper from interest groups,^[23] and held hearings with them in June and July.^[24] The committee's report was launched on 14 January 2016.^[25]

After the 2016 general election, a minority coalition government was formed by Fine Gael and Independent TDs with confidence and supply support from Fianna Fáil. Its programme committed to establishing an electoral commission "independent of Government and directly accountable to the Oireachtas".^[26][27] 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.^[28] In June 2017, the department was preparing a Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA).^[29] In October 2017, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said there was "no timeframe" for establishing the commission and it was "very much a long-term project".^[30] 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",^[31] and proceed separately from work on an Electoral Commission.^[32] The Electoral Commission RIA published in November 2018 compared four implementation strategies.^[33] The ensuing public consultation received 23 submissions by the closing date of 15 March 2019.^[32][34] In July 2019 Phelan said work was commencing on drafting the general scheme (outline) of an Electoral Commission Bill.^[35]

2021 draft 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 promised an electoral commission by the end of 2021.^[36] Malcolm Noonan was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage with responsibility for heritage and electoral reform.^[37]

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage produced the general scheme of an Electoral Reform Bill, which was approved by the cabinet on 30 December 2020^[38] and published on 8 January 2021.^[39] The scheme was submitted for pre-legislative scrutiny to an Oireachtas Joint Committee, which had public meetings with invited parties between 23 January and 22 June and issued its report in August.^[40]

The draft bill ^[38] sought both to modernise the electoral register and to establish an electoral commission with seven to nine members and a permanent staff.^[41] The establishment provisions are modelled on the Policing Authority established in 2015.

The commission would comprise:^[42]

• five to seven members appointed by the President of Ireland:
  • the Chairperson, a current or former judge of the superior courts, nominated by the Chief Justice, appointed for a seven-year term;
  • four to six experts recommended by the Commission for Public Service Appointments and nominated by the government with Oireachtas approval for a four-year term
• two ex officio members:
  • the Ombudsman
  • the Clerk of Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann, alternating every four years;

The commission's staff would be members of the Civil Service of the State, with a Chief Executive recommended by the Commission for Public Service Appointments.^[43]

Envisaged functions

The Constitutional Convention took the Australian Electoral Commission and UK Electoral Commission as case studies of possible models for the Irish body.^[44] The various official reports listed functions which might be performed by the commission, and noted who is currently responsible for them. The bill published in 2021 would give some of these as "initial functions" to the commission it establishes, leaving open the possibility for others to be transferred to it at a later date.^[45][41] Academics addressing a pre-legislative scrutiny meeting said the bill lacked ambition and the commission's structure left it "little room for expansion" to new activities.^[46]

Function	Currently done by	Suggested by^[a]	In 2021 bill?^[45]	Notes
Referendum campaigns	Referendum Commission	DECLG, Oir, PFG, RIA	Initial	Under current law, a new Referendum Commission is created and dissolved for each referendum.
Constituency boundaries	Constituency Commission and Local Electoral Area Boundary Committees	DECLG, Oir, RIA	Initial	Under current law, new commissions or committees are created and dissolved for each periodic boundary review.
Voter education and participation	"Generally absent"^[48]	DECLG, Oir, PFG, RIA	Initial	The 2016 government programme says the commission should "look at ways to increase participation in our political process through voter education and turnout".^[26]
Maintaining the register of political parties	Clerk of the Dáil	DECLG, Oir, PFG, RIA	Initial
Policy, strategy, and research	Franchise Section of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage	Oir, RIA	Initial	The 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.^[49]
Maintaining the electoral register	Local authorities and the Franchise Section	DECLG, Oir, PFG, RIA	Initial (oversight)	The 2021 bill includes wide-ranging reforms to the registration process, with local authorities retaining some responsibility under the supervision of the new electoral commission.^[50]
Countering electoral fraud, post-truth politics, foreign electoral intervention			Initial (partial)	The 2018 report of the Interdepartmental Group on the Security of Ireland's Electoral Process and Disinformation foresees a role for the Electoral Commission.^[49] The 2021 bill scheme gives the commission "a key role in relation to the regulation of online political advertising during election periods",^[45] which was praised by Michela Palese of the British Electoral Reform Society.^[41] The Commission would have power to investigate but not to adjudicate or impose penalties, and could initiate criminal proceedings only with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions.^[51]
Returning officers	County registrars and sheriffs	DECLG, RIA	Future	The RIA suggested existing returning officers would continue, under supervision from the Electoral Commission.
Monitoring of campaign financing	Standards in Public Office Commission	DECLG, Oir, PFG, RIA	Future
Publication of results	Returning officers, Franchise Section	Oir, RIA		Returning 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.
Elections to the Seanad	Vocational panel elections are overseen by the clerk of the Seanad; elections for NUI and Dublin U are overseen by respective universities	DECLG		The 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.^[52]^[53] 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.^[52] Consideration of a private member's bill to extend the franchise for university constituencies was adjourned in November 2020 to await the Electoral Commission's establishment.^[54]
Standards for electronic voting	N/A			Recommended in 2005 by the Commission on Electronic Voting formed after the abortive 2003 e-voting trial.^[13]

Notes

1. DECLG= Consultation paper 2015;^[47] Oir = Oireachtas committee report 2016, pp.iii–iv, 34–35; PFG = Programme for Government 2016 pp.152–3;^[26] RIA = Summary of Regulatory Impact Analysis, p.6 §1.1

References

• Constitutional Convention (August 2013). . Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
• Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (DECLG) (27 January 2015). (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 May 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
• Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) (8 January 2021). "General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bill 2020". Government of Ireland. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
• Franchise Section, Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government (18 November 2018). "Proposed functions of the Electoral Commission and associated costs: Summary of Regulatory Impact Analysis" (PDF).
• Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht (13 January 2016). (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
• [JCHLGH] Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (2021) 22 Jan, 2 Feb, 23 Mar, 30 Mar, 20 May, 22 Jun
• [JCHLGH] Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage (August 2021). "Report on Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bill 2020" (PDF). Oireachtas. Retrieved 9 September 2021.

Citations

1. Electoral Reform Act 2022 (Establishment Day) Order 2023 (S.I. No. 31 of 2023). Signed on 8 February 2023 by Darragh O'Brien, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book.
2. "An Coimisiún Toghcháin (The Electoral Commission) is formally established on a statutory footing". Government of Ireland (Press release). Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. 9 February 2023. from the original on 9 February 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
3. "Appointment of Secretary General to the President" (Press release). Department of the Taoiseach. 23 March 2021. from the original on 24 March 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
4. Noonan, Malcolm (28 September 2022). "Financial Resolution No. 6: General: Financial Resolution (Resumed)". Dáil Éireann (33rd Dáil) debates. Oireachtas. from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
5. Electoral Reform Act 2022, s. 9: Membership of Commission (No. 30 of 2022, s. 9). Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book.
6. Bray, Jennifer (31 January 2023). "Supreme Court judge Marie Baker nominated to chair Electoral Commission". The Irish Times. from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
7. "Government approves nomination of ordinary members to An Coimisiún Toghcháin (Electoral Commission)". Government of Ireland. 14 December 2022. from the original on 16 December 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
8. "Appointment of Ordinary Members of An Coimisiún Toghcháin: Motion – Dáil Éireann (33rd Dáil) – Vol. 1031 No. 2". Houses of the Oireachtas. 14 December 2022. from the original on 5 January 2023. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
9. "Ceapachán An Coimisiún Toghcháin" (PDF). Iris Oifigiúil. 2022 (103): 1570. 30 December 2022. (PDF) from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
10. "Electoral Operations". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
11. "Electoral Integrity". Electoral Commission. from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
12. "Constituency Review Report 2023" (PDF). Electoral Commission. p. 7.
13. Commission on Electronic Voting (July 2006). Second Report; on the Secrecy, Accuracy and Testing of the Chosen Electronic Voting System (PDF). Dublin: Stationery Office. p. 206, R.41. (PDF) from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
14. * "Electoral Commission Bill 2008 (PMB) — Bill Number 26 of 2008". Bills. Oireachtas. from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
    • "Electoral Commission Bill 2012 (PMB) — Bill Number 100 of 2012". Bills. Oireachtas. from the original on 14 February 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
15. Sinnott, Richard; John Coakley; John O’Dowd; James McBride (November 2008). (PDF). Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 November 2013. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
16. DECLG 2015, p.5
17. Constitutional Convention 2013, p.9
18. "Fourth Report of the Constitutional Convention on the Dáil Electoral System: Statements (Continued)". Dáil Éireann debates. 18 December 2014. p. 47. from the original on 16 June 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
19. ""Progress on the Establishment of Independent Electoral Commission" Speech by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Alan Kelly T.D." MerrionStreet.ie. Government of Ireland. 17 December 2014. from the original on 22 May 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
20. "Electoral Commission: Motion". Seanad Éireann debates. 17 December 2014. p. 24. from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
21. Kehoe, Paul (14 January 2015). "Section C: Bills in respect of which heads have yet to be approved by Government" (PDF). Government Legislation Programme: Spring/Summer Session 2015. p. 13. (PDF) from the original on 22 May 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
22. "Electoral Commission: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government". Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht proceedings. Oireachtas. 10 March 2015. from the original on 16 June 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
23. Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht (30 April 2015). "Have your say: Environment Committee seeks submissions on Electoral Commission" (Press release). from the original on 7 July 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
24. Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht Electoral Commission in Ireland: Discussion; 16 June 2015 21 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine 23 June 2015 21 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine 30 June 2015 14 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine 7 July 2015 23 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine 14 July 2015 2 July 2022 at the Wayback Machine
25. . This Week in the Houses of the Oireachtas. Oireachtas. January 2016. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016. Report Launch / Report on the Consultation on the Proposed Electoral Commission 2016 /Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht / Audio Visual Room, LH2000, on Thursday, 14 January 2016 at 11 a.m.
26. "A Programme for a Partnership Government" (PDF). Government of Ireland. 11 May 2016. pp. 152–3. (PDF) from the original on 5 October 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
27. Coveney, Simon (5 July 2016). "Written answers: Electoral Commission Establishment". Dáil debates. KildareStreet.com. from the original on 30 April 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
28. "Legislation Programme Autumn 2016" (PDF). Office of the Government Chief Whip. 27 September 2016. pp. 6, 24. (PDF) from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
29. "Electoral Commission Establishment". Written answers. KildareStreet.com. 13 July 2017. from the original on 27 December 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
30. "Questions on Promised Legislation". Dáil debates. KildareStreet.com. 4 October 2017. from the original on 25 December 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
31. "Electoral Commission: Statements". Seanad debates. kildarestreet.com. 27 September 2018. from the original on 30 April 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
32. "Parliamentary Questions: Election Management System". 32nd Dáil proceedings. Oireachtas. 11 June 2019. from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
33. Stuart-Mills, Ian (29 November 2018). "Public Consultation on a Regulatory Impact Analysis on the Establishment of an Electoral Commission". Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
34. "Public Consultation Responses for Public Consultation on a Regulatory Impact Analysis on the Establishment of an Electoral Commission". Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
35. Thornton, Gareth (19 July 2019). "Government Approval for the Establishment of an Electoral Commission" (Press release). Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
36. "Programme For Government — Our Shared Future". DocumentCloud. June 2020. p. 120. from the original on 2 July 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
37. Bray, Jennifer; Kelly, Fiach; Leahy, Pat (1 July 2020). "Full line up of junior ministers unveiled as Taoiseach accused by one TD of snub". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 18 June 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
38. O'Halloran, Marie (30 December 2020). "Election regulator on horizon as Government approves proposals". The Irish Times. from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
39. Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (8 January 2021). "Ministers O'Brien and Noonan publish the General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bill". Gov.ie. Government of Ireland. from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
40. JCHLGH (August 2021) pp. 4–7; McQuinn, Cormac. "Government TDs concerned new law is not enough to regulate online political ads". The Irish Times. No. 22 June 2021. from the original on 22 June 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
41. Palese, Michela (12 January 2021). "An independent Electoral Commission for Ireland — A step forward for democracy". London: Electoral Reform Society. from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
42. DHLGH 2021 Heads 5, 6
43. DHLGH 2021 Heads 15, 19, 20
44. Constitutional Convention 2013, pp.62–63, 77
45. DHLGH 2021 Head 28 [pp.57–59]
46. McQuinn, Cormac (2 February 2021). "'Lack of ambition' for new election watchdog, Oireachtas members told". The Irish Times. from the original on 2 February 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.; Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage (2 February 2021). "General Scheme of Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed)". Committee proceedings. Oireachtas. from the original on 30 April 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
47. DECLG 2015, p.17
48. Oireachtas committee report 2016 p.173
49. "Government publishes first Report of the Interdepartmental Group on security of Ireland's Electoral Process and Disinformation". merrionstreet.ie (Press release). 17 July 2018. from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.; Interdepartmental Group on security of Ireland's Electoral Process and Disinformation (17 July 2018). "Appendix 3. Electoral Commission". First Report (PDF). pp. 30–31. (PDF) from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
50. DHLGH 2021 Heads 28 and 80 and Part 3
51. Lynch, Catherine (4 February 2021). "The regulation of online political advertising: Evaluating the Government's proposals" (PDF). Library & Research Service. Oireachtas. p. 20. (PDF) from the original on 13 February 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
52. Working Group on Seanad Reform (April 2015). "Report" (PDF). Department of the Taoiseach. p. 37. (PDF) from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015. The Working Group recognises that the Electoral Commission, to be established by the Government, would have responsibility far beyond Seanad Elections and in that regard that the Interim body and its functions would be subsumed into the wider Electoral Commission.
53. Working Group on Seanad Reform (5 May 2015). "Part 8: Seanad Electoral Commission" (PDF). Seanad Bill 2015 [draft]. Department of the Taoiseach. pp. 24–25. (PDF) from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
54. "Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage". Seanad Éireann debates. Oireachtas. 10 November 2020. from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2021.

External links

• Official website  
• The Electoral Commission, Citizens Information Board
• Public Consultation on an Electoral Commission in Ireland (2015–2016) Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht
• topic Electoral Commission, Government of Ireland website