European Parliament Elections Act, 1997
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Local returning officers. |
17.—(1) There shall for the purposes of this Act be a local returning officer for every county or county borough wholly or partly situate in a constituency and the local returning officer shall be— | |
(a) in the case of the counties of Cork, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin and the county boroughs of Cork and Dublin, the sheriff, and | ||
(b) in every other case, the county registrar. | ||
(2) Subject to subsection (3)(a), it shall be the duty of a local returning officer— | ||
(a) to take the poll at a European election in the part of the constituency for which he or she is the local returning officer, | ||
(b) to do such acts and things as he or she is otherwise by this Act required to do, and | ||
(c) to render such assistance to the returning officer for the said constituency as that returning officer may require, | ||
and if any doubt arises as to the duties of a local returning officer, the doubt shall be determined by the Minister. | ||
(3) (a) Where a local returning officer is appointed under section 16 to be the returning officer for a constituency, it shall be lawful for the said officer to appoint a deputy local returning officer for the discharge of all or any particular part of his or her duties as local returning officer. | ||
(b) Where at an election the same person is local returning officer for two or more counties or for a county and a county borough, the person may appoint in respect of each county or county borough (except one) a deputy local returning officer to open the ballot boxes and verify the ballot paper accounts. | ||
(4) Where a vacancy occurs in the office of county registrar or sheriff and the holder was a local returning officer or a local returning officer is prevented by illness or other reasonable cause from performing all or any of his or her duties, the Minister shall, where appropriate, appoint a person to act as local returning officer during the period of the vacancy or prevention. | ||
(5) A reference in this Act to the local returning officer shall, where appropriate, be construed as including a reference to a deputy or acting local returning officer. |