section_path: Dissolution
section_name: Dissolution
paragraph_text: Dissolution
  
  Article 16.3.2° of the Constitution of Ireland (1937) provides that an election for the membership of Dáil Éireann must take place no later than 30 days after a dissolution of the current Dáil. Article 16.4.2° requires that the newly elected Dáil Éireann must convene no later than 30 days after the election. As such, the maximum period of time between a dissolution of Dáil Éireann before a general election and the meeting of the new Dáil after a general election is 60 days.
  
  The procedure and timetable for the dissolution of Dáil Éireann, pursuant to a general election, and the date for the reassembly of the newly elected Dáil, after the election, is set out in the Constitution of Ireland. Article 13.2.1° states that "Dáil Éireann shall be summoned and dissolved by the President on the advice of the Taoiseach". Therefore, the timing of a general election rests with the Taoiseach of the day.
  
  Once so advised by the Taoiseach, the President issues a proclamation which specifies the date on which the current Dáil is dissolved, and the date on which the newly elected Dáil must first meet.
  
  The timing for polling day in a general election is decided on by the Taoiseach. However, this is governed within a specified statutory framework. Once the presidential proclamation is issued, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage sets, by way of a ministerial order, the date and time of polling day in the election.
  
  Section 39(1) of the Electoral Act 1992 states:
  
  Section 96 of the Electoral Act 1992 (as amended) states:
  
  For the purposes of the Act an "excluded day" means a day which is a Sunday, Good Friday or a day which is declared to be a public holiday by the Holidays (Employees) Act 1973, or a day which by virtue of a statute or proclamation is a public holiday.
  
  Therefore, if the Dáil were dissolved on a Tuesday 1 February (in a non-leap year), and the writs for elections issued by the Clerk of the Dáil on that day, then the earliest date for polling day would be Tuesday 22 February (18 days later, excluding Sundays) and the latest date for polling would be Wednesday 2 March (25 days after, excluding Sundays), with polling stations being open for a minimum 12-hour period between the hours of 7am and 10.30pm on polling day (as set out in the ministerial order). In such a scenario, the latest date by which the newly elected Dáil must assemble would be Thursday 24 March (for a 22 February polling date), or Friday 1 April (for a 2 March polling date).