James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important matter and confess to a certain amount of puzzlement, in line with that experienced by the King of Siam, on different issues in relation to the Taoiseach's position vis-À-vis the Constituency Commission. Does Government common sense, if that is not a contradiction in terms, cross over from the role of Tánaiste to that of Taoiseach? Perhaps that should be rephrased to ask when is common sense not common sense but rather expediency. In April 2008, the then Tánaiste said that TDs should have a greater say in the creation of the electoral map, to have the right to change recommendations made by the electoral commission and to revise constituency boundaries. The Taoiseach, Deputy Cowen, said that TDs were simply presented with a firm decision or an irreversible fact and did not have an input into what was happening. That was when he issued the immortal words and demanded more common sense solutions.

The ball is in the Taoiseach's court. He has the power to put his money where his mouth is and allow, as he said in April, "this sovereign Parliament" to take upon itself responsibilities in this area and devise a consensus around modifications on behalf of constituents who are dissatisfied. Does he really want to do this and bring the wrath of the electorate and their representatives on his head and open this House to charges of duplicity? There is, of course, a problem with his proposed course of action. As my colleagues, Deputies O'Dowd and Hogan, said in this House, the independent Constituency Commission was chaired by a High Court judge and all TDs had an opportunity to make their submissions known to it before it reached its conclusions. With any suspicion of gerrymandering hanging over the establishment of an all-party committee, as suggested by the Taoiseach, which by its nature would have a greater number of Government members than Opposition members, could this House retain its sovereign status, in anything but the most dubious way?

Could the Taoiseach's remarks have anything to do with the pressure brought to bear by Leitrim Fianna Fáil backbench TDs and councillors last year when they threatened to resign if the Oireachtas approved the recommendations of the Constituency Commission? Conveniently, the Taoiseach's contention that the Dáil had the power to stop the county boundaries being breached would bring the possibility of County Leitrim being reunited a step closer.

Since the 1980s the recommendations of the independent commission have been accepted by the Oireachtas without amendment. Chaired by a High Court judge and comprising the clerks of the Dáil and Seanad as well as the Ombudsman and the Secretary General of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, in whom I have the utmost confidence, it is very much an independent process. Where changes have been made as in Louth-Meath, Dublin West, Dublin North, Dublin South-Dún Laoghaire and Limerick-Kerry a coherent and reasonable explanation has been given by the commission for its decisions. Dublin West and Louth will gain a seat while Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and Limerick East will lose one. Limerick has lost enough under this Government to date, including the Aer Lingus routes. The Government has practically denuded the entire west of other services. As highlighted, Leitrim remains divided.

Rather than attempting to overrule the commission, the Taoiseach and his Government would be better served by bringing forward legislation to implement the recommendations of the Constituency Commission given that the local elections are due to take place next year. We do not want a repeat of the fiasco with the electoral register that threatened the validity of the general election and the core of our democracy.

Prior to the general election last year, I highlighted the puzzling number of people whose names had been taken off the electoral register. We also saw that in some cases the numbers, taken from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government's statistics, on the draft register strangely and suspiciously exceeded the adult population in some areas, particularly along the Border regions. The total number of errors in the register was reckoned to reach 300,000.

The adult population of Longford is 24,810, yet the draft register contained 27,132 names, a difference of 2,322, or 9%, and Westmeath which has an adult population of 57,141 had 59,791 names on the draft register, a difference of 2,650, or 5%.

Historically, the constituency of Longford-Westmeath goes back to the foundation of the State and the Government of Ireland Act 1920, with a redrawing of the boundaries for 2002-07, and three elections prior to that, when it was redesignated Longford-Roscommon. An injustice remains, however, with several areas of County Westmeath — Clonmellon, Delvin, Fore, Ratharney, Bracklyn, Whitehall and the Castlepollard area — remaining outside the Longford-Westmeath constituency. There is also a question as to the reason the constituency has not been designated five seats.

In 2002, I made a submission to the Constituency Commission in support of the restoration of the Longford-Westmeath constituency, citing the facts that the population of the area is ideal for a Dáil constituency and that it was the historical constituency for the area. While both constituencies — Longford-Westmeath and Longford-Roscommon — do not breach county boundaries, the latter was an unrealistic constituency as the two counties are in separate provinces. The River Shannon was disregarded by the commission despite its terms of reference and the fact that just two bridges connect counties Longford and Roscommon, which have fewer land connections than England and France. The commission, in its wisdom, restored the previous status quo.

Just two years after redrawing the constituencies, the Constituency Commission chaired by Mr. Justice O'Neill has recommended that 24 out of 43 constituencies be reshaped and proposed small adjustments to the distribution of Dáil Deputies. The commission has proposed the creation of 24 new constituencies, with nine carried over from the 2005 Electoral Act and the remaining ten dating from an earlier period. Overall the commission adopted a minimalist approach in its recommendations. While the number of five seat and three seat constituencies fell by one in each case, the impact of the measure was neutralised by an increase in the number of four seat constituencies. The number of Deputies and constituencies remained unchanged at 166 and 43, respectively.

The immediate test of the commission is to conclude its ongoing deliberations on the boundaries for next year's local elections. The knock-on effect of population transfers arising from the decisions pending will be keenly watched by Deputies and prospective Deputies alike. Many potential candidates for the Dáil are rising through the ranks of local government. There has been condemnation in some quarters that the commission clung too closely to the existing model or that it has perhaps been too radical in those areas in which it opted to take a radical approach. Let us not forget, however, that unlike politicians from the Taoiseach down, the commission has no axe to grind and no fences to mend.

I compliment the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley, on standing up to the former Taoiseach when he issued a statement on this issue in April last. Long may the cross-party support for the independence of the Constituency Commission continue.

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