Donie Cassidy (Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

This Bill should have provided for two extra Dáil seats. The commission could have recommended either a reduction of two seats to 164 or an increase of two to 168. It is a shame it did not choose the latter approach. The people of north Westmeath and Leitrim have much in common. Neither area has got its fair share of the spoils of the Celtic tiger. However, all the hard work has been put in place to ensure this situation will be rectified. We are all here to effect change and to do our best on behalf of the people with whom we were reared.

Fairness must prevail. This is not the case in respect of north Westmeath and Leitrim where in the case of each, 30% of the electorate is being taken away from its natural terrain. However, there is no doubt the commission had a difficult job which it undertook according to what it considered the best interests of the electorate. I had the great honour of sitting beside Paudge Brennan and Séamus Mallon when I first entered the Seanad in 1982. Paudge Brennan was always good for a one-liner and he once said, "there is never the right time to do the right thing". The correct approach for the commission to take the next time it sits is to treat county boundaries as sacrosanct.

If changes must be made, it is better they take place in the large cities, including Dublin, Cork and Galway. In these areas, a Deputy will secure 6,000 votes in an area of only half a mile. In rural north Westmeath, by contrast, the population of the village of Coole was shown to have declined by 1.6% in the last census. I have been honoured to represent the people of Castlepollard, Fore, Collinstown, Ballymanus, Delvin, Clonmellon and Riverdale in Raharney. This latter village has been split by the commission. It makes no sense to divide 300 people in a rural area so that 100 are assigned to a constituency in County Meath and 200 stay in Longford-Westmeath. It is a heartless act.

I look forward to being returned as a Deputy for the people of the new constituency of Longford-Westmeath. People from Westmeath have always worked well with those of Longford. We form a natural terrain of co-operation and were part of the same area for the purpose of the former health board, for example. I will be honoured and privileged to continue to serve as a Member of Dáil Éireann with the wishes of the electorate of Longford-Westmeath. I will conclude with the words of Abraham Lincoln: "I do the very best I know how; the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing it to the end."

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