Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am not suggesting that the Minister should change the name of anything. I am suggesting that the Oireachtas should agree to change the name of the constituency. I think there is a huge difference between the two. I am asking the Fine Gael Party to vote in favour of such a change. There are no other proposals. Therefore, the analogies drawn by the Minister in speculating about all the other constituencies do not hold. The people of the areas in question must be happy with the names proposed for the new constituencies because they have not asked any Member of the Oireachtas to table an amendment to those names. The only possible legal changes that can be made, if changes are to be made, are those proposed in the amendments before the committee today. The acceptance of these amendments would not involve anything more than what is set out in the amendments. We would be saying that the democratically elected representatives of the people are not seeking any changes other than in the constituencies specified in these amendments. As I pointed out, Galway has been included in the name of the Roscommon constituency. I do not believe the Oireachtas is precluded from making a change of this nature, either in law or in practice. As the Minister has said, this is not part of the terms of reference of the commission. When I was in the Cabinet, we discussed the possibility of changing the names of constituencies that were inappropriately named.