Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 12, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following:

2.—The provisions of section 1 regarding the manner of making nominations shall apply with any necessary modifications to European and local elections in lieu of the relevant provisions of the European Parliament Elections Act 1997 and Local Elections Regulations 1985 as amended by the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2002.

This issue was discussed on Committee Stage. It is related to the question of whether the legislation also requires to be amended in respect of local elections and the European Parliament elections. The Minister indicated on Committee Stage that it was intended to bring forward amending legislation in respect of the Local Government Act, which applies to local elections, and the European Parliament Elections Act. Arising from that I indicated that I would withdraw the amendment. I invite the Minister to record that such legislation will be brought forward in which case I expect I will respond correspondingly.

I would like the Minister to address a related issue. He will recall that when we debated the electoral legislation earlier this year the question arose as to the revision of the constituencies and the position vis-À-vis the census. At that stage what we had available to us were the provisional census figures. As we know the provisional figures, which were published last July, indicate that in the case of one constituency the ratio of population to Member of the House is in excess of that which is allowed for in the Constitution. Second, it is likely that the variance that exists in the ratio of Member to population as between one constituency and another is outside the tolerance which has been allowed by the courts to date in respect of the principle of equality of representation.

In response to those issues at the time, the Minister stated that it was his position and advice that what mattered here for the purposes of the Constitution was not the provisional census figures but the official figures when published. I draw his attention to the indication on the CSO website that it is intended to publish the final official figures on 26 April by which stage we will have the official figures by area and by population. Will the Minister inform the House as to what is his advice in respect of that? If the general election does not take place before 26 April, which appears to be the likely scenario, what will be the position post-26 April if by then the official census figures are published? As we know from past experience, it is likely that the official figures will confirm to within perhaps 100 or 150 the figures that were released in the provisional figures.

See this speech in context