Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)

I support the amendments. Reference has been made to the population shift. If one goes back to the 1920s, one will find that County Kildare had a population of 50,000, the same as County Leitrim. In the intervening years the population of County Kildare has more than doubled while that of County Leitrim has halved. That is an accurate, although extreme, example of what has been occurring.

If we look at the projections for 2030 from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, we will see that the population of the greater Dublin area will grow by up to 50%. In that context, would it not be reasonable to look at larger constituencies, whether it is six seat or seven seat constituencies, so as to cater for population shift? This issue will not go away. I will not become political, other than to say that if we had balanced regional development and were achieving what is included in the national development plan, we might not need to have this debate. We are certainly not striking a balance in terms of population.

Two or three years ago when the CSO published population projections for 2030 — it has done so again recently and revised the figures upwards — it described it as a wake-up call for the Government. It was saying something for the CSO to make such a statement but as I said, that is the situation in which we find ourselves. The issue will not go away. Therefore, from that perspective, surely we need to look at larger constituencies because that would give the commission flexibility to try to ensure the maintenance of county boundaries.

We do not need to maintain all county boundaries. County Meath which has been mentioned could become a six seat constituency. If one wanted to do it on a trial basis, one could easily have put Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon together as one six seat constituency with County Meath as another. That would have been feasible but it has been decided to split them into two three seat constituencies. The issue of splitting County Meath relates to proportionality and representation which is another argument but the splitting of County Leitrim is a very different issue. As we heard in the Dáil today, the ratio is 1:30,000 and the population of County Leitrim is just in excess of 25,000. Therefore, if one splits the county for electoral purposes, it is almost guaranteed that there will not be a Deputy living in the county, particularly because of the way it is being split. The splitting of county boundaries is an issue nationally but the particular issue I wish to deal with is the splitting of County Leitrim.

Has the commission taken demographic shifts into consideration? Has it made any request to the Minister or the Department seeking larger six seat or seven seat constituencies to allow it to adhere to its guidelines? The guidelines indicate that county boundaries should not be breached where practicable. Given of the demographic shift, I know, as does the Minister and the commission, that as time passes, it will not just be County Leitrim that will be split; other small counties will also be split. The creation of larger constituencies would provide a solution to avoid this. Has there been any communication from the boundary commission about larger constituencies to enable it to carry out its functions more effectively and adhere to its current guidelines?

Reference has been made to the constituencies of the Legislative Assembly in Northern Ireland, all of which are six seaters. I heard the Minister say in the House that maximum proportional representation would be achieved if we had one single constituency, with which I agree, but that is not practicable, as the Minister and I are both aware. Let us look to Northern Ireland where six seat constituencies are in operation and have worked. In general, people appear to be happy with the proportional nature of their representation. Why should we have a six seat constituency on one side of the Border in County Fermanagh that delivers proportional representation to its electorate and on the other side County Leitrim is forced into two three seat constituencies that will not deliver the same level of proportionality? Most importantly, it will probably not deliver a Deputy who lives in the county. I support both amendments.

See this speech in context