M J Nolan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

I welcome this opportunity to speak on this report. In general, we as democrats accept that if the House sets up an independent commission to deal with a particular thing, that body is independent, as no doubt will be accepted in this case. The Bill will support the report of the commission. However, I have misgivings about certain aspects of it. The commission has taken the easy option. While, on balance, the vast majority of the report stands up to scrutiny, it has singularly let down smaller counties.

I can speak in personal terms of how the electorate and population of Carlow believe the commission has not kept to its terms of the reference under which it was asked to take into account county boundaries. It has not done so in the case of Carlow. It was also asked to take into account geographic features. Again in the case of Carlow it has not done so. It is even more tragic that this report has recommended, effectively, the halving of the county of Leitrim in terms of constituency division. To a large extent, I was a voice in a wilderness for a long time making the case for County Carlow but now the commission has gone a step further. It is not alone the fact that Carlow is a county, it has one of the smallest population bases in the country. I am glad to hear that Members from all sides of the House acknowledge that this is a mistake the commission should acknowledge. I support the Taoiseach in the comments he made on the Order of Business some months ago when he said we should not abdicate our responsibilities and we have an option to change the commission's report. I do not believe that will happen, but if there was all-party support for that, I would be delighted to see it happen.

It is wrong that a population in one county is effectively represented by a TD from a different constituency. The wearing of the county jersey still means a great deal in rural Ireland. People have an affinity and a loyalty to their county. This report does not acknowledge that. I refer to the population of east Carlow who are represented by county councillors on Carlow County Council, which is also their planning authority. Their postal service and all their utilities are based in Carlow. The Garda, in its wisdom, changed the Garda district and it is now represented in Carlow. The telephone service and social and economic services of the people of east Carlow are all based in Carlow. However, when it comes to voting, they must vote for somebody in the Wicklow constituency. That is patently wrong.

One of the main criticisms I hear in the run up to every general election is from individuals in east Carlow. They say we are the legislators and have the power to do something about this, but we are letting them down. In a large proportion of cases these people refuse to vote. They are Carlow people and want to vote in Carlow, but are not allowed to do so. The people of east Carlow have been let down by this report. I hope that the next commission set up will take account of smaller counties.

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