Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2008 on behalf of the Fine Gael Party. However, I am somewhat disappointed that we are not engaging in a debate on the economy. I am of the view that it would have been a great deal more appropriate to discuss the state of the economy rather than this Bill.

The Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2008 aims to bring into law the Constituency Commission's report on how Dáil and European Parliament election constituencies should be drawn for the immediate future. The commission's report — an 84-page document — was compiled by people who are apolitical and who went about their work in a clearly defined manner set down by the Oireachtas. The commission was led by Mr. Justice O'Neill, a judge of the High Court, and included among its membership the Clerk of the Dáil and his counterpart in the Seanad. These individuals should be commended on going about their work in a professional manner and completing it within the defined guidelines set down for them. The Constituency Commission should always remain independent. Politicians should refrain from making public comments in respect of its report.

We were obliged to wait an unnecessarily long time between the Bill's publication and the commencement of the debate on it. The Constituency Commission's report was published in October 2007 but it is only at this late stage that we are debating the Bill. As Deputy Hogan stated on previous occasions, there has been an unjustifiable delay on the part of the Government and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government — who has direct responsibility for this matter — in giving effect to the recommendations of the commission. The Minister may be in breach of constitutional law and open to challenge as a result of this delay.

The Government ignored the report for almost a year. This is despite a High Court judgment in 2007 to the effect that the Government would be obliged to implement the recommendations of the commission with minimum delay. The latter has not happened and that is not acceptable.

I made representations to the Constituency Commission in respect of my constituency, which, I am delighted to say, remains intact. There were rumours in the media in the run up to the publication of the commission's report that the Dublin North-East and Dublin North-Central constituencies would be merged but this proved not to be the case. That is a good result for public representatives and their constituents, who desire continuity and who want to enjoy the same level of service to which they have become accustomed.

The constituency of Dublin North-East has been in existence since the foundation of the State and it would have been a shame if it had disappeared. It has, however, been altered, with Edenmore, which, according to the 2006 census, has a population of 2,758 people transferring to the Dublin North-Central constituency. However, the areas of Portmarnock, north and south, and Balgriffin, with a combined population of 9,201, have been transferred to Dublin North-East. I welcome this development, which means that my constituency has enjoyed a net gain of 6,443 people. The Deputies who represent Dublin North-East will be obliged to listen to the concerns of these individuals. The people to whom I refer will expect a first-class service and will want their views to be represented in Dáil Éireann. I will be obliged to face greater challenges because I have a much larger constituency to represent and this will give rise to an increase in the number of queries and issues of concern with which I will be asked to deal.

As a result of the Constituency Commission's report, Dublin West and Louth will gain seats. That is fair and is in line with the increases in population in both constituencies. However, matters will be more difficult for those Members who represent Limerick East and Dún Laoghaire because each constituency will lose a seat. Members of the public in the latter constituencies will also encounter difficulties because their level of representation will decrease.

Some 20 other constituencies have been revised in this report, with 19 Dáil constituencies remaining unchanged. Eleven five-seat, 15 four-seat and 17 three-seat constituencies are proposed. Of the 20 constituencies that have changed, there is controversy, particularly in respect of County Leitrim which is unable to directly elect a Deputy because the county is divided in two. Of the 300 submissions received by the Constituency Commission, the vast majority of the objections came from individuals in County Leitrim.

There is also controversy in some other constituencies where county boundaries have been breached by the Constituency Commission in its review of constituencies. As the Minister stated, county boundaries have been breached in Kerry-Limerick, Offaly-Tipperary and Louth-Meath. The commission has tried to avoid this but it is inevitable due to population changes. The national average is 25,541 people per Deputy.

In regard to the European Parliament elections, the main change proposed is that the Dublin constituency will lose one seat. That will make next year's election a lot more competitive. Dublin currently has four seats but that will be reduced to three. A transfer of population from counties Longford and Westmeath from Ireland East to Ireland North-West has been proposed in the report.

Sadly, I was surprised to note that only eight public submissions were made to the Constituency Commission in advance of its report regarding the European Parliament elections. There is a disconnect between the people and what goes on in Europe, and that was demonstrated by the result of the referendum on the Lisbon treaty. Parties on both sides of the House need to address that in advance of next year's European Parliament elections.

The Electoral (Amendment) Bill also includes the procedures to be followed by future Constituency Commissions. In future, their work will begin once the census data are published, which is very welcome. Currently, it does not happen until a much later stage in the process. In any event, the work of the Constituency Commission must be completed within three months of the publication of the data. This will ensure the commission report is available much sooner and that constituencies are revised on a much more regular basis. I hope that when the next census data are published, the Government will act in a more timely manner than has happened.

The Bill will also revise the procedures that were adopted in the general election in respect of the nomination of non-party candidates in European Parliament and local elections. An independent person who is not a member of a political party needs his or her nomination paper signed by 30 people, excluding the candidate and any proposer, who are registered as Dáil electors in the constituency concerned before going forward as a candidate in the general election. European Parliament elections will now require 60 people to sign the nomination papers while 15 people will be needed to sign the papers in local elections.

In lieu of obtaining assents, a candidate may choose the alternative of making a deposit which will be returned if the person receives in excess of one quarter of the quota, otherwise he or she will have to forfeit his or her deposit.

Fine Gael supports the work of the Constituency Commission. It is an independent group of people which goes about its work in a very professional manner. It has produced this report which should be respected by all Members of Dáil Éireann. Our party will bring forward some amendments on Committee Stage. We were disappointed that the Minister did not act in a much more timely manner and that the Bill was not published almost immediately after the publication of the Constituency Commission report. We commend the Bill to the House and look forward to debating it further on Committee Stage.

See this speech in context