Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank members because some very good points have been made by everybody, including Deputies Ó Broin, Ó Snodaigh, Flaherty and Nash. I thank the Minister of State for his response. There was a very good point made by Deputies Flaherty and Ó Broin that politicians should not be involved with setting this. That is correct. The problem with the legislation in front of us is that we are, as elected politicians, copper-fastening the status quo. We are tying the hands of the commission because the legislation will very clearly do that with constituencies of three, four or five seats.

It is correct that we must focus on greater engagement and participation from the electorate. One of the ways we can do that arises because people participate most when they feel there is efficacy in the vote and their vote really does count and matter. Greater proportionality assists that. We also get greater participation when people feel those who are getting elected reflect society better, the elected bodies are more diverse and they can see people to whom they can easily relate getting elected to local councils or the Dáil. This is about doing that.

By tying our hands and that of the commission on constituencies with three, four or five seats, as this legislation does, we will not allow for greater participation or diversity with which we all seem to agree. I do not understand why we would tie our hands with the legislation on this, especially in the context of the significant population growth. It has happened and this is the ideal time to look at the increased number of representatives who will be elected to the Dáil. It would be the perfect time to look to increase slightly the size of the number of representatives per constituency. There is no better time to do it. I will certainly press my amendment.