Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan has confirmed that local and European elections will take place on May 23rd this year.
Agreement on the date was reached at a Cabinet meeting yesterday.
Because of a number of changes to constituency boundaries, only 11 MEPs will be returned in the ballot compared to the previous 12. It is also expected that a planned overhaul of local government will see the number of councillors around the country slashed by more than 40 per cent as scores of town councils are abolished.
Polling on the day will be between the hours of 7am and 10pm. In a Department of the Environment statement, Mr Hogan encouraged eligible voters who have not yet been included on the new electoral register to apply for inclusion in the supplement to the register as soon as possible. The deadline for application forms is May 6th.
Anyone looking to register on the supplement for postal and special voters lists need to have applications in with the appropriate registration authority before April 26th.
Every person aged 18 years or over is entitled to vote for the local electoral area where they ordinarily reside. Citizenship is not a requirement for voting at the local elections.
Every Irish and other EU citizen living in Ireland aged 18 years or over is entitled to be registered to vote at the European Parliament elections in Ireland.
