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The President F Ireland

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The President F Ireland The President f Ireland GERARD A. LEE Dublin Election and Term of Office Similar to the policy adopted in the Weimar Constitution in Germany, and in the present Constitution of Portugal, the Presi- dent of Ireland is elected by direct vote of the people, the . elec- torate being the same- as at an election for members of Dail Eire- ann and the voting being by secret ballot and on the principle of proportional representation by means of the single transfer- able vote.' He holds office for seven years from the date on which he enters upon his office, unless during that time he dies, or .re- signs or is removed from office or becomes permanently incapac- itated, the incapacity to be established to the satisfaction of . the Supreme Court consisting of not less than five judges. Every citi- zen who has reached his thirty-fifth year is eligible for. office and a, previous or outgoing President is eligible for re-election once only. The Presidential Elections Act, 1937, provides the', machinery for the nomination of candidates. Former or retiring Presidents may become candidates on their own nomination, every stick nomination being made in writing on a nomination paper in. the specific form set out in the act.2 Every candidate for election, not a former or retiring President, must be nominated by not less than twenty members of the Oireachtas, the nomination, paper being signed by each of the twenty members making the nom- ination,' or, as an alternative method, the candidate may be nom- inated by the councils of not fewer than four administrative counties (including county boroughs) . The number of nomina- tions is deliberately kept in check by the provision in the C"ôn- stitution that no person and no council is entitled to sùbscribe to the nomination of more than one candidate in the same elec- tion. It has been enacted by a subsequent act that a commissioner ' Constitution, Art. 12 ; Presidential Elections Act, 1937, ss . 20-28. z Presidential Elections Act, 1937, s. 10. ' Presidential Elections Act, 1937, s. 8. 1088 THE CANADIAN BAR REVIEW [VOL. XXVIII appointed to supersede a county council shall not have the right to nominate a candidate for the office of President. No election takes place where only one candidate is nomin- ated for the office of President. The circumstances which led to the selection of the first President of Ireland were of a rather unexpected character. It was realized that the method of election set out in the Constitution would prove quite ineffectual as a means of raising the choice of President above party politics. A nation-wide contest of this sort was to be avoided at all costs. Consequently the unexpected happened. A conference took place between two members of the Government and two members of the Opposition Party. It was agreed that Dr. Douglas Hyde should be requested to accept nomination. He accepted and, since there was no other candidate, he was declared elected, unopposed, on May4th, 1938. His successor - President O'Kelly -was how- ever elected by direct vote of the people in 1945. During the Constitution debate in the Dail, arguments were advanced in favour of the method of direct election of the Presi- dent by the whole people. The head of the government put the case briefly: "Nobody would propose getting the whole people to elect a person unless it was proposed to give him substantial pow- ers and consequently if those powers are in any way to be exercis- ed in connection with legislation it is only right that a person who had got the authority definitely from the people for doing certain things should exercise it. My own belief is that the powers in the legislative domain are the chief powers and the only powers the President has which would justify an election of him by the people. In exercising these powers he is acting on behalf of the people who have put him there for that special purpose. He is there to guard the people's rights and mainly to guard the Con- stitution." 4 Over against this argument in favour of direct election by the people may be placed another equally cogent one showing its fail- ings. The counter argument is similar to that advanced against popularly elected second chambers, namely, the danger of con- flict arising between rival authorities, each claiming to represent directly the wishes of the people : - "You have the seeds of con- flict sown by reason of the possibility of conflict between the President claiming a direct mandate from the people and the Government also claiming a direct mandate from the people."' The question of eligibility of the President for re-election was a Dail Debates, Vol. LXVII, Cols. 38 and 51. s Dail Debates, Vol. LXVII, Col. 1035. 10891950] ' The President of Ireland- also fully discussed in the Constitution debate in the Fail. The neatest argument in favour of re-eligibility was that it "his a safe- guard against his yielding to the temptation of playing up to 'a particular Party. The fact that he may be standing again with a different Party in . power is surely a motive to him to abstain from partisan conduct." 6 Another argument in favour of re-eli- gibility centered on the confidence to be placed in the supreme wisdom of the people. "On the whole I think the right thing to do is to leave it open to the people to decide. If there are good reasons for the re-election of a man for the two terms, they will re-elect him." 7- One point developed by Alexander Hamilton in connection with the President of the United States is not out of place here . An ill effect of the exclusion of the President from the possibility of re-election would, he thought, lessen the induce- ments to good behaviour. "There are few -men- who would not feel much less zeal in the discharge of a duty when they were conscious that- the advantages of the station, with which it was connected, must be relinquished at a determinate period than when they were permitted to entertain a hope of obtaining, y meriting, a continuance of them." 8 As against these arguments raised in favour of the policy of re-election- . must be placed another, strongly set out during the Constitution debate. "Having occupied the office for a period of seven years he will go before the people for re-election. During that period of seven years, all his public actions may be directed towards the one aim of being re-elected at the end of his term of office. it is not in human nature that he should omit to direct his actions towards securing re-election." s When the choice has been made, the President formally enters upon his office by making and subscribing publicly in the pres- ence of members of both houses of the Oireachtas, of judges of the Supreme Court and of the High Court, and other public per- sonages, the following declaration: In the presence of Almighty God I do solemnly and sincerely promise and declare that I will maintain the Constitution of Ireland, and uphold - its laws, that I 'will fulfil my duties faithfully and conscientiously in ac- cordance with the Constitution and the law, and that I will dedicate my abilities to the service and welfare of the people of Ireland. May God direct and sustain me. On making this declaration the President takes precedence over all other persons within the state. 8 Dail Debates, Vol. LXVII, Col. 1090. - 7 Dail Debates, Vol. LXVII, Col. 1093. 8 Hamilton, The* Federalist, No. LXVII. Dail Debates, Vol. LXVII, Cols. 1072-1073 . 1000 THE CANADIAN BAR REVIEW [VOL . XXVIII ~' During his term of office certain rights which are normally given to a citizen of the state are forbidden to the President. The President may not be a member of either house of the Oire- achtas and, if a member of either house should be elected, he must vacate his seat. In addition, the President may not hold any other office or position of emolument, and may only leave the: country with the consent of the government. Legislative Functions of the President The President of Ireland has no power to initiate legislation, neither has he any direct veto on the legislative competence of Parliament. His functions in the legislative domain are, for the most part, of a quasi-judicial nature, exercisable by him after consultation with the Council of State. In this field his actions are, in actual fact, discretionary, there being no obligation on him to adopt the advice tendered by the members of the Council. Every bill passed by the Oireachtas, other than a bill con- taining an express proposal for an amendment of the Constitu- tion, is immediately presented by the Taoiseach to the President for his signature and for promulgation by him as a law. With the exception of bills, the time for the consideration of which by Seanad Eireann has been abridged under article 24 of the Con- stitution, every bill presented to the President for his signature must be signed by him not earlier than the fifth day after pre- sentation. At the request of the government, however, with the prior concurrence of Seanad Eireann, the President may sign any bill, the subject of the request, earlier than on the fifth day after presentation . Every bill presented for his signature to the Presi- dent must, with certain exceptions provided for in the Constitu- tion, be signed by him not later than the seventh day after the date on which the bill is presented to him.
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