Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

This issue has been well tested. The Deputy will be aware of the number of Supreme Court judgments on this issue. The Supreme Court has spoken with clarity and I do not wish to do anything that would violate a decision which is constitutional in its nature and which has been handed down by the Supreme Court. It would be criminally unwise for any Minister to do that. There is a long history in this issue. I subscribe to the general principle that there should be an equality of vote although the Constitution does allow a variation which in itself somewhat trespasses on the general principle.

Deputy O'Dowd asked whether the commission will be examining local authority boundaries. The commission will not be doing so because that matter will be considered separately. The nature of the commission's examination is to consider local electoral divisions, LEDs, and where these should be drawn. The commission is not charged with looking at the other matter which lies at the core of the Deputy's question, namely, whether it should be responsible for resolving issues relating to boundaries such as those that have arisen in, for example, Waterford, Limerick and elsewhere. There is a separate mechanism to deal with such matters. This could be, but has not been, triggered. I am of the view that politicians should make decisions of that nature.

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