John Cregan (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)

I want to express my dismay, disgust and disappointment at the failed attempt to rectify a situation in the Kerry North and Kerry South constituencies. It was evident there was not enough of a population to support the retention of six Deputies in those two constituencies. Rectifying it should have been a simple matter of reducing the two three-seat constituencies to a single five-seat constituency. Such a move would have left the good people of west Limerick to keep their Limerick West constituency intact and have their own elected Deputies to make representations for them. Instead the commission decided otherwise and moved parts of west Limerick into the Kerry North constituency. Why was the single Kerry constituency option not taken rather than the decimation of the Limerick West constituency?

I understand approximately 17,500 people from County Tipperary will be part of the new constituency, Limerick. I welcome that I will be representing these people. They are used to good representation from Deputies Jan O'Sullivan, Michael Noonan and Kieran O'Donnell. They, like the people of west Limerick, who have been lost to north Kerry, are equally mesmerised as to why they have lost their Dáil representatives. It does not make sense to me.

I feel a distinct loyalty to the people of west Limerick who voted for me in serval elections. I want to assure them I will continue my representations for them. I will now be representing the good people from the east of the county — Caherconlish, Cappamore, Doon, Murroe and Pallas Green and other towns — and people from County Tipperary. I will do my very best to maintain the good representation they had. Since the Constituency Commission reported, we have been already active in this new part of the constituency.

I agree with the sensible statement by the Taoiseach before he assumed office that we should no longer leave our livelihoods in the hands of an independent commission. The House must have an input into deciding the revisions. While I respect the independence required for the Constituency Commission, in future an interim constituency report should be published and examined. The House should be allowed to make a political input to it with drastic changes taken out.

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