Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

Some have been won in injury time.

The current approach to boundary revisions is the fairest possible system. I am deeply suspicious when a debate of this nature is ordered in the House because if it is a case of uisce faoi thalamh, it is dangerous. One never knows when there will be a burst resulting in a flood. If something akin to uisce faoi thalamh is pending, I hope the whole place will not be flooded. I hope it is not intended to re-politicise the drawing of constituency boundaries. Notwithstanding the possibility that political influence may have been at work in some of the stranger decisions taken from time to time, the current approach is the fairest because it has stood the test of time and removed grounds for suggesting political chicanery has played a role. I remember the case of the poor late Minister, Jimmy Tully, in 1973 or thereabouts when the Fianna Fáil Party argued that changes in electoral boundaries guaranteed he would win ten elections. As we later discovered, this was not the case. I do not believe maintaining his seat was the purpose of the exercise. Rather, the Minister, Mr. Tully, sought to keep communities together. From a positive point of view, we should not worry because Governments change.

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