Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I have rarely heard such self-serving nonsense in the House. Deputy O'Dowd made a very honest contribution in which he said that if we were to make the change now, it would not have the effect in County Leitrim suggested by a number of contributors. However, it would mean that the commission would be re-established and more detailed legislation would be required. The law currently provides for the establishment of a commission on the publication of a census but no census results have yet been published. Therefore, we would have to revisit the legislation, re-establish the commission and give it different terms of reference.

If we were to abandon the commission's report and go back to the bad old days, we would hear other specious arguments. We would certainly hear more legitimate arguments. We abandoned the idea of a political redrafting of constituency boundaries to suit the Administration of the day and it would be an extremely retrograde step to return to it. It would be a step backwards to return to the bad old days. We set up a commission and gave it its terms of reference in law. Therefore, it would be dishonest to suggest that we should tear up the entire practice and return to where we were. It is not a practical approach and would not have the effect the Deputy seeks.

The constituency commission's terms of reference are clearly set out in the legislation and in my speech on Second Stage. Section 6(2) of the Electoral Act 1997 includes requirements for three, four and five seat constituencies and deals with the issue of breaches of county boundaries. Deputy O'Dowd made a very valid point with regard to the so-called sacrosanct constituency boundaries.

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