Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 7, column 1, lines 40 and 41, to delete “Dublin Bay South” and substitute “Dublin South East”.

I do not challenge the independence of the commission or the outcome with regard to the boundaries and the number of Deputies. However, I wish to challenge the change made by the commission in its report of the name of the constituency from Dublin South-East to Dublin Bay South, and I do not believe this challenge undermines the independence of the commission. Dublin South-East was established in 1947 by the 13th Dáil. It is a constituency made up of well-known townships and includes Ringsend, Sandymount, Donnybrook, Rathmines and Terenure among others, and all have a sense of place in the constituency. The area the furthest from Dublin Bay is 6 km away and the constituency has only approximately 2 km of seafront.

If we wanted to change constituency names, perhaps Carlow-Kilkenny could be named river view. It has more kilometres of a river view than Dublin South-East has of Dublin Bay. Ingrained in the proposed constituency name change is the suggestion that Dublin South-East does not have a sense of place, but it has. I know the Minister believes strongly in county jerseys. Dublin is made up of several communities with clear identities, but this proposal does not recognise the identity Dublin South-East has and its long association with that name. The constituency had two former Fine Gael taoisigh, John A. Costello and Garrett FitzGerald. It also had Noel Browne and former party leaders, such as John Gormley, Ruairí Quinn and Michael McDowell. The area has a very strong identity and no submission was made to the Constituency Commission for a change of name.

The only criteria for changing the name to Dublin Bay South seems to be to provide a balance between the north side of the city and the south side. If that was the case, the constituency of Dún Laoghaire should be called Dublin Bay South. Dublin South-East has a stronger affinity with Dublin Central. The Minister needs to show some flexibility on this. My amendment is a common sense amendment that recognises the feelings of people living in Dublin South-East and their sense of identity. The commission recommendation rides roughshod over that. My colleague here grew up in Dublin South-East and probably understands the strong affinity to the name. I urge the Minister to reconsider the issue and accept this minor amendment.