PART XVIII

Arrangements for the Counting of the Votes

112. —The returning officer for a constituency shall appoint a place within or convenient to the constituency as the place at which he will count the votes and shall, at the place so appointed, provide suitable accommodation and all furniture and equipment necessary for counting the votes in accordance with Part XIX and shall make adequate arrangements for the safe custody of the ballot papers and other documents relating to the Dáil election concerned.

113. —(1) Not less than 4 days (disregarding any excluded day) before the polling day the returning officer shall give written notice to each candidate of the time and place at which he will proceed to count the votes and of the number of agents each candidate may appoint to be present at the counting of the votes.

(2) The returning officer, his assistants and clerks, members of the Garda Síochána on duty and the agents of the candidates duly appointed for the purpose under this Act may be present at the counting of the votes and no other person shall be present without the permission of the returning officer.

(3) The returning officer shall give the agents of the candidates all such reasonable facilities for overseeing the proceedings at the counting of the votes (including, in particular, facilities for satisfyingthemselves that the ballot papers have been correctly sorted) and all such information with respect thereto as he can give them consistent with the orderly conduct of the proceedings and the performance of his functions.

114. —(1) At 9 a.m. on the day next following the polling day, and at the place appointed under section 112 , the returning officer for the constituency shall, in the presence of the agents of the candidates, open the ballot boxes and extract the ballot papers therefrom.

(2) The ballot papers extracted by the returning officer from each ballot box shall be counted and their total number shall be compared with the number shown in the appropriate ballot paper account. The returning officer shall prepare a statement showing the result of this comparison in respect of all the ballot boxes and he shall, on request allow the agent of any candidate to copy the statement.

(3) The returning officer shall then mix together the whole of the ballot papers and shall forthwith proceed to count the votes in accordance with Part XIX .

(4) The returning officer, while counting and recording the number of ballot papers, shall cause the said papers to be kept face upwards and shall take due precautions to prevent any person from seeing the numbers printed on the backs of the said papers.

115. —The returning officer shall, so far as practicable, proceed continuously with the counting of the votes, except during time for refreshment, and excluding (except so far as he and the candidates otherwise agree) the hours between 11 p.m. and 9 a.m.

116. —The returning officer shall cause the ballot papers to be scrutinised for the purpose of discovering any papers liable to be rejected as invalid and shall, in accordance with Part XIX , ascertain and record the number of votes given to each candidate.

117. —Candidates or their agents shall not handle ballot papers during the counting of the votes.