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Article 28
 

1) Each local authority shall, as soon as may be after the commencement of this Part, and thereafter at least once in every ten years, following consultation with the returning officer for Dáil elections in respect of the county or county borough and in accordance with regulations made by the Minister, make a scheme dividing the county or county borough into polling districts for the purposes of Dáil elections, European elections[, direct elections] and local elections and appointing a polling place for each polling district.

(1A) Each local authority shall, in making a scheme under this section, endeavour to appoint as polling places only such areas as shall allow the returning officer to provide at each polling place at least one polling station which is accessible to wheelchair users.

(2) (a) A scheme under this section made by the local authority shall come into operation on the day specified in the scheme.


(b) A copy of a scheme made pursuant to this section shall, as soon as may be after it is made, be furnished to the Minister by the local authority.


(3) ----------


(4) A scheme under this section shall continue in operation until the next such scheme in respect of the county or county borough comes into operation and shall then expire.


(5) A polling place appointed by a scheme under this section shall be an area and may be within or outside the county, county borough, constituency or local electoral area in which the polling district is situate, but shall be such as to give the electors allocated to it reasonable facilities for voting.

(5A) (a) Where it is not practicable to provide a polling station which is accessible to wheelchair users at a polling place appointed for a polling district by a scheme for the time being in force in respect of a county or county borough, the local authority may appoint an alternative polling place at which it is practicable to provide a polling station which is accessible to wheelchair users for that polling district.


(b) As soon as may be after the appointment of an alternative polling place for a polling district under paragraph (a), the local authority shall notify in writing details of such appointment to the Minister.


(6) Subject to subsection (7), the making of a scheme under this section and an appointment under subsection (5A) of an alternative polling place for a polling district in a scheme for the time being in force shall each be in the case of the council of a county, a reserved function for the purposes of the County Management Acts, 1940 to 1991, and, in the case of the corporation of a county borough, a reserved function for the purposes of the Acts relating to the management of the county borough.


(7) The Minister may require a local authority to make a scheme under this section within such period (not being less than one month) as the Minister may direct and if the local authority refuse or fail to make such a scheme within the period directed by the Minister, the Minister may himself make a scheme in respect of such county or county borough.


(8) Until the first scheme under this section comes into operation in relation to a county or county borough, the polling districts and polling places existing in relation to the county or county borough immediately before the commencement of this section shall continue. After the coming into operation of the first scheme, any reference to a polling district or polling place in any Act, order or regulation shall, where appropriate, be construed in relation to such county or county borough as a reference to a polling district or polling place under a scheme in force under this section.


(9) Regulations made under section 22 of the Electoral Act, 1963 and in force immediately before the commencement of this Act shall, notwithstanding the repeal of the said section 22, remain in force until regulations are made under subsection (1) and shall be deemed to be regulations made under this section.


(10) An election shall not be questioned on the grounds of any non-compliance with the provisions contained in this section or any informality in regard to polling districts, places or stations.