1182 Mr. Eoin Ryan asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the rules and regulations that are in place on how a candidate describes their occupation on the ballot paper. [21404/04]

Under electoral law, a nomination paper must state the name, address and occupation, if any, of the candidate and a ballot paper must contain the name and description of a candidate standing nominated as shown in the nomination paper. In ruling on the validity of a nomination paper, a returning officer, inter alia, must object to the description of a candidate which is, in his or her opinion, incorrect, insufficient to identify the candidate or unnecessarily long or which contains a political reference other than, where appropriate, to a public or elected office held or formerly held by the candidate or to a registered political party or to the fact that the person is a non-party candidate.