Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)

I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak on the Bill. I give my full support to Deputy Cowley who spoke so eloquently of the need for balanced regional development, including further development at Knock Airport, front-loading funding to the western rail corridor and giving a fair share of funds to the regions. The current spending imbalance under the national development plan is a disgrace and Governments should hang their heads in shame. Balanced regional development is supposed to be a key objective of the national development plan, yet the Government has turned its back on the concept of balanced regional development simply by not giving equal expenditure to the regions.

I will deal now with the Bill. The Bill is first and foremost about democracy and ensuring that the wishes of the electorate are fairly reflected in the results of any election. We have an independent commission that must operate within its terms of reference. One of the problems here is its terms of reference. One of the stipulations is that the number of members in a constituency must be restricted to between three and five. I will return to the issue later. It certainly restricts the manoeuvring of the commission.

All politics is local and therefore the first issue on which I want to comment is the proposal by the electoral commission to split County Leitrim in two for electoral purposes. The recommendations in this regard will have very serious consequences for the county. There is considerable anger in the county at this prospect.

People in County Leitrim ask quite rightly why their county has been chosen. Is it because it is the smallest county or because its population dropped from 155,000 — this was the population some 150 years ago — to 25,000 by the time of the last census? Is it because it is believed that the people of the county do not matter? Is it believed that they do not have sufficient political clout? Is it because the county was split before? County Leitrim found itself as the only county without a Deputy resident in the county.

County Leitrim was once carved up between three constituencies for the general elections between 1969 and 1973. When it happened that there was no Deputy resident in the county, the backlash was such that action was taken to try to address the problem so it would never arise again. It was decided that the only possible solution was to protect the county boundary as an integral electoral unit. This was to ensure that every county, not just County Leitrim, would have a fair chance of electoral representation in Dáil Éireann.

Since the first independent commission was established in 1980, County Leitrim was reunited as an electoral unit. To protect the county from being carved up in the future, it was agreed that a statutory protection be imposed on it requiring that county boundaries be protected where practicable. There is no doubt but that this protection was put in place to ensure that smaller counties, particularly County Leitrim, would never be without a resident Deputy. Nevertheless, County Leitrim finds itself in this position 25 years later.

One might well ask how this could happen. One reason is that both major political parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, made submissions to the electoral commission stating the county should be split in two. Regardless of what members of these parties are now saying, their parties' recommendation was that north Leitrim should become part of a constituency with Sligo and that south Leitrim should become part of a constituency with Roscommon. I have no doubt these submissions influenced the commission, otherwise it would not have accepted them. While the commission is independent, it does take the advice of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The advice was that the county should be split, carved up and divided. One cannot have it both ways. Those who vote for this Bill are saying to the people of County Leitrim, north and south, that they want the county to be carved up. Ultimately, the county will have to bear the consequences of our actions.

I listened to Deputy Cassidy speaking about County Westmeath and the problems faced by the people in Coole. I sympathise with them but their problem is not in the same league as that faced by the people of County Leitrim. Imagine if County Westmeath did not have a Deputy. Would it put up with it? Would counties Roscommon or Sligo put up with it? They would not, and rightly so. Neither should County Leitrim put up with it. The splitting of the county is unfair and undemocratic. It is a body blow to all those who have worked tirelessly for many years for the regeneration of the county. It is a body blow to the pride of the county. County colours, the county jersey and county loyalty mean so much to so many people. My mother, who will not thank me for saying this, was born in County Leitrim and lived in County Sligo for the past 50 years. Whenever Leitrim is playing Gaelic football, regardless of whether it is playing against Sligo, she still supports the county in which she was born. She takes pride in the gold and green of County Leitrim.

Those of us who were lucky enough to live in County Leitrim when its team reached the All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin noted the great sense of pride in the county. In population terms, it was a case of the smallest county in Ireland playing the largest. It was great to be living in the county during those summer days. While I admit that the same enthusiasm might not be generated over politics, I realise that each county wants one of its own in the Dáil. This Bill makes it likely, perhaps even very likely, that County Leitrim will find itself with no public representative in Dáil Éireann.

There are those who might say the population of County Leitrim is just not large enough and that the major increase in population is in the east of the country. The latter is true and the increase is mainly driven by the fact that we do not have the balanced regional development of which I spoke. However, this is an argument for another day. The population shift is such that we must consider constituency boundaries and make changes. However, counties should not be made to suffer.

Deputy Johnny Brady spoke about Members having difficulty holding their seats. I understand and sympathise with this view. What is really important is that voters and counties such as County Leitrim do not suffer. There are solutions to this problem, which solutions will ensure that County Leitrim and other such counties are not split in two for electoral purposes.

In 1923 there were seven seats in the constituency containing County Leitrim. This continued until 1933. The county belonged to a constituency with five seats between 1948 and 1961. Therefore, there are solutions. The soft option, the easy option, is to split the county. I call on the Government to refer the proposal back to the electoral commission so it can allow for six-seat constituencies, thereby avoiding the totally unnecessary and absolutely discriminatory splitting of County Leitrim.

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