Electoral Reform Act 2022
From Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Published on
Last updated on
The Electoral Reform Act 2022 (Number 30 of 2022) was signed into law by the President on 25 July 2022.
This Act provides the legal basis for a range of significant electoral reforms in line with commitments in the Programme for Government – Our Shared Future.
It includes provision for:
For each section of this Act to take legal effect it must be commenced by a statutory instrument.
The first phase of commencements of this Act are set out in S.I. No. 512 of 2022 which commenced certain provisions with effect from 13 October 2022.
Some of the key areas which have been commenced include:
The range of measures in relation to the franchise and registration of electors commenced with effect from 13 October 2022. They aim to modernise our electoral registration process, including through:
All applications will be made to the registration authority in the first instance and only appeals will be considered by County Registrars.
The changes include:
To support the implementation of these provisions, www.checktheregister.ie has now been updated.
Further information on how the registration of electors has been modernised is available at the FAQ section of www.checktheregister.ie , including:
To support this modernisation process, electoral registration forms have been updated and are available on the Check the Register website . They will also continue to be available in paper format from registration authorities for voters who prefer to register with their authority using this approach.
Updated versions of the systems used by registration (local) authorities have also been rolled out and will enable and support the implementation of the new provisions. A further phase of this modernisation process will include the development and roll out of a national electoral registration system building on Voter.ie, and Dublin City Council is the lead authority in respect of that project.