European Parliament Elections Act, 1997

Returning officers.

16.—(1) There shall for the purposes of this Act be a returning officer in respect of each constituency specified in the Third Schedule and the returning officer for a constituency shall be such one of the persons, who by virtue of section 17 is the local returning officer for a county or county borough wholly or partly situate in the constituency, as the Minister may from time to time appoint.

(2) It shall be the general duty of the returning officer to do all such acts and things, other than acts or things which are by this Act required to be done by a local returning officer, as may be necessary for effectually conducting a European election in that officer's constituency in accordance with this Act, to ascertain and declare the results of the election and to furnish to the Clerk of the Dáil a return of the persons elected for the constituency.

(3) Where the returning officer is prevented by illness or other reasonable cause from performing all or any of the duties of returning officer, the Minister shall appoint a person, who by virtue of section 17 is the local returning officer for a county or county borough wholly or partly situate in the constituency, to act as returning officer during the period of the prevention and a reference in this Act to a returning officer shall, where appropriate, include a reference to an acting returning officer.

(4) An appointment of a person as returning officer under section 14 (1) of the European Assembly Elections Act, 1977 which was in operation immediately before the commencement of this section shall be deemed to be an appointment under subsection (1).