Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to address the House on the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005 and I am glad to be able to add my tuppence worth. Many of the sentiments expressed by Deputy Ellis are echoed on this side of the House and in many constituencies.

When the boundary commission was established, its job was to review the existing constituency boundaries on foot of population trends and to make recommendations for boundary changes. Its terms of reference are clearly set out in the booklet produced after its establishment. It lists the factors to which the commission shall have regard in observing the relevant provisions of the Constitution regarding Dáil constituencies. In this regard, paragraph (c) states, "the breaching of county boundaries shall be avoided as far as practicable". What exactly does the term "as far as practicable" mean and how rigorously and strenuously should this principle be adhered to? It should be adhered to very strongly because parts of north Westmeath, including Castlepollard, Ballymanus, Fore, Whitehall, Collinstown, Drumcree, Delvin, Bracklin, part of Raharney, and Clonmellon, are to be included in a constituency with part of Meath, thus forming the Meath West constituency. The people in these villages are part of Westmeath and have been voting in their existing constituency for the past 15 years. They feel disenfranchised because they are to be shifted around, at someone else's behest, just because of numerical considerations. They feel disenfranchised at being shifted further by another's will to facilitate numbers. Many people in northern Westmeath feel lost, neglected and not fully represented because of the change in the constituency boundaries. The commission must be made to realise the importance of that feeling. These people live in, and identify with, an area but for electoral purposes are suddenly hived off to another area.

I agree with Deputy Ellis that county integrity should be an important factor in the consideration of the constituency, even if that changes the tolerance levels. The tolerance levels in Westmeath are low. Approximately 6,000 people have been shifted from County Westmeath into County Meath. That would not have a dramatic effect on tolerance levels in a Meath constituency or if Westmeath were changed to a five-seat constituency, Westmeath-Longford. There is no reason why that part of Westmeath must be hived off in that way. A future review of constituency boundaries should bear in mind what we say here.

Longford and Westmeath have a long tradition of co-operation for electoral purposes. Parts of the periphery of north Westmeath have been hived off into Meath or even Kildare. People are not happy with that. The constituency commission should also consider towns, such as Athlone which is divided down the middle by the Shannon. Part of the western bank of the river is considered as Westmeath for electoral purposes. A part of the town is absorbed into Roscommon, or in this case, Leitrim-Roscommon.

In dividing counties it would make more sense to look at urban areas such as Athlone. That would give Athlone greater integrity rather than slicing off part of a rural area to join another constituency. We should look carefully at this proposal.

I draw the Minister of State's attention to section 6 of the Bill. It addresses an issue raised by the Standards in Public Office Commission on the definition of election expenses for the purpose of the Electoral Act 1997. We need clarification on many such issues and I welcome this.

A sub-committee of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges is sitting to discuss the nature of electoral expenses and so on and is due to report its findings in June. I am not sure whether its recommendations will require the support of legislation. It may be necessary to insert a provision into this section giving the Minister power to make regulations based on the sub-committee's recommendations. The Minister of State may take advice on that before Committee Stage.

It is important to clarify for every Member what will count as expenses for election purposes. If we do not make that decision it will be made for us in the courts which will produce unworkable decisions. For example, the courts have decided that for election purposes everybody must be equal. When the Dáil is dissolved a Deputy ceases to be a Deputy and no longer has access to the facilities provided in the House. A Minister, however, retains office for the duration of the election and continues to have access to his or her Department and staff. Most of the Ministers of State have access to five secretaries in their constituency offices, with whom they can continue to work throughout the election. Meanwhile, the backbenchers are no longer Deputies.

A Senator running for the Dáil remains a Senator until the Seanad elections are called. He or she continues to work as a Senator. That is not a level playing pitch. How can the court decision be implemented? We need to be realistic about these matters and sort them out.

I wanted to make several more points. Deputy McCormack says I can keep going and he will wait for the next slot.

One assumed that with the advances in technology and the elaboration of databases that it would be almost impossible to make major mistakes in registers. This is unfortunately not the case. A street or a group of people is regularly found to have slipped off the register. They may have been on the register and voting for many years only to be suddenly left out. The facilities exist to reinstate them, and the Minister of State will tell me that the register is displayed in the post office and one should look at it there. A practical solution to this problem might be for each local authority, when the register is published on 14 February every year, to send a mail shot to everyone on the existing register. That would be an annual reminder to people of whether they are on the register. It would be very easy to do this on something like a voting card. Those who do not receive the reminder could have their names added to the register. That is the way forward.

It is sad to see people who value the democratic process and have voted for many years, turned away from the polling booth because they are not on the register. Meanwhile, some people are cleverly put on the register who may have no association with the area but have been included for personal reasons by other people.

They may have relatives in the area and spend only the odd weekend there with family or friends yet at election time they are on the register and can vote. Seats can be won or lost by ten votes or fewer in local elections. People added to the register in this way can make a crucial difference. We need to be rigorous in our examination of those and see what is happening. In the past the rate collector had a major involvement but that is no longer the case. Perhaps the anonymous society and the fact that there are so many new people are contributory factors. We do not have the same interest in it and we do not know our neighbours.

See this speech in context