Michael Noonan (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

The House has agreed to an extension of the Limerick urban boundary, which will have knock-on effects on local election boundaries. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has established two committees to redraw local election boundaries. Part of the terms of reference for those committees is that the chairman Mr. Niall Callan must take cognisance of constituency boundaries. Does that mean the existing constituencies or the new constituencies which have not yet been implemented? Submissions close by early March and people are unsure how to frame their submissions. Do the terms of reference refer to existing or new boundaries and will the Government give a commitment to bring forward the legislation enacting the new Dáil constituency arrangements before the committee addresses the submissions?

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