Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)

In a number of cases this report ignores the spirit and intent of section 6(2)(c) of the Electoral Act 1997, which states that "the breaching of county boundaries shall be avoided as far as practicable". That has happened in my constituency of Kerry North and in Limerick West, and in Counties Tipperary, Offaly, Louth, Meath and Leitrim. This could have been avoided. The changes diminish the level of representation of the people living in the constituencies concerned.

In my constituency, I feel strongly the integrity of Kerry North ought to have been retained, as well as that of Limerick West. Indeed there are far stronger feelings about this in the parts of County Limerick that are affected, given that there is a good chance that nobody from that part of the constituency might be elected as part of the new arrangement. There are those who will argue this is not important and that people still get to vote for the party of their choice, but that is to underestimate the importance of local identity and the fact that the people best able to represent individuals and communities from distinct areas are people who are from those areas and living there. Local knowledge and local interaction are of great benefit to those who are elected as it gives them a better connection to their constituents.

The transfer of the Kerry North districts of Deelis, Kilgobban, Knockglass, Baurtregaum, Kilfelim and Castleisland to Kerry South distorts what has been the traditional integrity of the constituency and the patterns of local representation. I also argue on the grounds of local community and integrity that the Dingle Peninsula should be considered more naturally a part of Kerry North and incorporated as such. It would certainly make more sense than including parts of County Limerick. Parts of the west Kerry Peninsula were incorporated into Kerry North for the 2007 election. These include Camp, Aughacasla and Derrymore. In the past, the Dingle Peninsula was also part of Kerry North. It made for better representation because of the geographical position and because of closer proximity to the elected representatives.

Similar strong feelings exist in those parts of south Offaly transferred to Tipperary North, as they do in north Meath and especially in Leitrim, as that county has been divided between the two new constituencies of Sligo-North Leitrim and Roscommon-South Leitrim. People from outside of the county may feel that this is a trivial matter, but they underestimate the real depth of feeling on this issue and how local people genuinely feel it will further disadvantage them across a range of issues in which they feel the county is already hard done by. I was in Leitrim recently and it was brought home to me that the people there feel they will not get proper representation if the county is divided.

Sinn Féin's opposition to the report goes back to the legislation which established the commission. We made our feelings known at the time and tabled a number of amendments outlining the direction in which we wished to see constituency organisation develop. We argued at the time and we still argue that the commission ought to have recommended the creation of larger constituencies, including six and seven-seat constituencies, some of which could indeed encompass entire counties or combinations of entire counties. We outlined this proposal in our submission to the commission but such changes were not considered. The commission has in fact gone in the opposite direction by reducing the number of five seat constituencies from 12 to 11.

We believe the changes dilute the proportionality of our electoral system and distort the effectiveness of proportional representation. It also goes against the original spirit and intent of constituency and proportional representation. In 1922 there were only three three-seat constituencies while there were five constituencies of six, seven and even eight seats. It should be possible to move in the direction of six and seven-seat constituencies and this would produce a better reflection of the PR system and the preference of voters, especially in light of the much greater diversity of opinion and political representation in recent years. That is already reflected in this House.

Sinn Féin is concerned that the existence of three-seat constituencies in certain areas and five-seat constituencies in other areas creates inequality between voters in different parts of the State. It is discriminatory in that voters in three-seat constituencies have a lower chance of electing their chosen representative if he or she comes from a smaller party compared with people living in a five-seat constituency.

Members should contrast the ability of voters in Finglas and Foxrock to elect their chosen representatives in the Dáil. The people of Finglas, in the three-seat constituency of Dublin North-West, do not have the same opportunity of putting their chosen party or representatives into Leinster House as the people of Foxrock in the five-seat constituency of Dún Laoghaire. Is it merely a coincidence that there is a proliferation of three-seat constituencies north of the Liffey, whereas larger constituencies are more common south of the Liffey?

Will the people of Leitrim or of the part of Limerick included in the revised Kerry North constituency have any chance of electing a representative of their county to the Dáil in the future? Is the legislation restricting the size of constituencies to three seats, four seats and five seats a deliberate attempt by the establishment to keep the marginalised in their place? New developments are springing up all over Dublin and stretching into surrounding counties, so the problem also arises in these areas. Boundaries may have to be changed every couple of years. It would make much more sense to have larger multi-seat constituencies that could accommodate such population shifts, without having to change the electoral boundaries constantly. That is the reason for our idea of six-seat and seven-seat constituencies.

The commission was constrained by statute and constituency sizes were restricted to between three and five seats. That meant it could never address some of the issues to which I have referred. The proportionality that is possible under the PRSTV system in this State has been substantially diluted through the selective redrawing of constituency boundaries and the reduction in constituency size from five to three seats. Proportional representation with a single transferable vote, or PRSTV, using multi-seat constituencies is a unique system that is hardly practised outside Ireland. It is not designed with the intention of being applied to three-seat constituencies. The number of members returned per constituency is a crucial component of the Irish electoral system. The higher the number of Members returned per constituency, the greater the proportionality of the system.

I reiterate the disappointment of my party and many others with the report. I emphasise the criticism of its remit from the time it began its work. Those criticisms stand and will remain relevant because we believe the flaws contained in it and the lack of scope for more radical change will continue to be exposed.

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