Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

That sounds daunting. I will begin my observations by referring to a paragraph in the first chapter of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, which was published recently and is highly pertinent to both today's topic and the economy. The Comptroller and Auditor General disclosed that during the Dáil and Seanad elections of 2007, An Post delivered almost 26 million items of mail to voters in both elections. The chapter in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report details how, because of the manner in which the legislation from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is framed, it is impossible for the Dáil and Seanad to secure a deal on bulk volume postage, as would be the case with any commercial operation. Consequently, An Post maintains, probably correctly, that it is legally bound to charge the full whack for the 25 million items of mail. One should bear in mind that the mail for Seanad elections normally is delivered by registered post, which is more expensive. Last year, the State paid An Post nearly €15 million in postage for the Dáil and Seanad elections.

As Members are discussing ways to try to prune back unnecessary public expenditure, this area is crying out for reform and, together with many political colleagues, I have called for such reform for many years. Not only should a bulk discount be obtained for delivery of this mail, but the system must be completely reformed. At present, those who wish to avail of the free postage available to Dáil and Seanad candidates must send an addressed item to everyone on the electoral register. In the not unusual case of a five-seater constituency in which ten candidates are standing, a not unusual household with two adults and three young adult children, that is five voters, will receive through its door 50 items of election material. Such material will have been posted to the electors in the house as free post at full postage stamp cost.

This has been the cause of an enormous amount of scandal to voters, including during the Lisbon referendum. Two or three items of material from political parties often arrive on the same day or all together in sequence over a single weekend. It would be a simple matter to reform this system by doing a deal with An Post in which candidates retain the right to free postage, as it is important to be able to communicate with the electors, particularly in these days of gated communities where it can be difficult to gain access to them. Why not simply allow a single item to be delivered to each house on behalf of each candidate? Moreover, why must such literature be addressed? It could be used as a circular which is delivered and dropped. I reckon the cost and numbers of items posted could be cut by between one third and one fifth. I am neither the first nor the only person who has called for reform. This would save both money and many trees because political parties could reduce the number of circulars they are obliged to send to each person on the register and costs would be cut accordingly.

As for the debate on constituency boundaries, the Government should indicate at the conclusion of this debate whether it considers the proposed constituency boundaries to be definitive and whether they are likely to be in force for the next election. I note the way the economy and the Government are going. The Progressive Democrats are now gone and the Minister, Deputy Mary Harney, holds power as a kind of independent in government. The Green Party flutters from time to time and while its Members are happy to be there, they are growing a paler shade of green as the economy worsens. Consequently, it is highly likely the next election will be fought before another census has been taken. All the shape throwing should be cut and the Government should indicate that these are likely to be the constituencies on which the election is to be fought. In addition, the census has been postponed as part of previous cutbacks. Indications already have been given that with the variety of other data that are collected, a ten year census, which now is usual in most countries, probably would be perfectly acceptable in Ireland, except that constituency revision is tied to the census data.

I noted with interest that a Fianna Fáil backbencher, Deputy Michael Kennedy, who was elected to represent Dublin North at the last election, was particularly concerned that Swords has been cut up like a cake. Two thirds of the town will remain in Dublin North while one third will be transferred to the constituency I have the honour to represent, namely, Dublin West. In a letter to constituents, Deputy Kennedy stated the boundary commission is independent, even if it has made some stupid decisions and because of the so-called independence, all previous Governments have accepted its recommendations. He stated the only way this proposal would be defeated is if Fine Gael and Labour were to kick up a fuss and then Fianna Fáil would be willing to refer the matter back to the committee for review but that were Fianna Fáil do this on its own, it would be accused of gerrymandering. Basically, this constitutes kicking the ball over to the Opposition. While it has views on this matter, the Opposition does not have the power to act. An issue that clearly causes some unhappiness in Fianna Fáil circles, as it probably does in both Fine Gael and Labour, suddenly is shifted to become the responsibility of the Opposition. Deputy Kennedy also stated that when the matter came up for discussion in the Dáil, he would be speaking strongly against the proposals but his voting against it would achieve nothing.

He is agin it but he will not be voting agin it. This constitutes nods and winks on a peculiarly elevated scale. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley, must clearly state that the Government accepts this recommendation. It is from an independent commission, regardless of whether one likes it. There are flaws in the commission's decisions, as well as ample room to improve the way in which it works. However, it would be almost impossible for the Government to reject the findings of an independent commission. Moreover, if one opts for another review, who is to say that another set of people will not be made unhappy, were those who are unhappy at present to have their concerns addressed by a review? It is for the Government, particularly the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, to state clearly whether it accepts the commission report and we will now sit down to work on the revision as suggested.

This matter should be concluded as soon as possible as the uncertainty holds out hope for people who are concerned about their representation. These include people in Leitrim, those in Swords who have been transferred to Dublin West, people in parts of south Offaly around Shinrone who have been transferred to Tipperary North and people in south Limerick who have been transferred to Kerry North. There are certainly difficulties in various areas in terms of electoral representation and real challenges for politicians.

We either have an independent commission and accept the recommendations, which we must, or we reform the commission process in an orderly way. We should let people know what will happen.

The Labour Party has already proposed that the Constituency Commission should act similarly to similar bodies in other countries. They advertise the recommendations and hold a local hearing on them so people with serious issues have a chance to put their case. That would be the best thing to do as it would allow a degree of public engagement, both by political parties and, more importantly, individual citizens in how they felt the constituency boundaries ought to be drawn to maximise political representation.

I heard Deputy Fleming say Laois-Offaly really has not changed much since the foundation of the State. Dublin West is probably the constituency that has changed with every revision more than any other in the State because of its growth in population. In the 1970s, when I was a student, Dublin West extended from near Sandyford through places like Newcastle and Rathcoole into what is now the west side of Dublin, including Lucan, Blanchardstown, Clonsilla etc. all the way out to Balbriggan. That was one constituency. Clearly, as these areas grew they were lopped off to their own constituencies. The process has continued.

In the previous boundary revision, Lucan and Palmerstown became Dublin Mid-West and Dublin West became a three-seat constituency taking in Castleknock, Clonsilla, Mulhuddart, St. Margaret's, Coolquay and various other areas of rural north and west County Dublin.

In this revision, the boundary review commission is going further into what we traditionally call north County Dublin. It has indicated that Dublin West should absorb approximately a third of Swords, specifically the area around River Valley and Forest Little. That poses difficulties for Swords. The core of the Dublin West constituency is the new town of Blanchardstown, Castleknock, Clonsilla and Mulhuddart, which had a population at the last census of 92,000. It is more than twice the size of Waterford, bigger than Galway and pretty much the same size as Limerick city. Swords is the county town and has a population heading for 40,000 but it has now been split, with a third of it going to Dublin West.

Understandably, many are worried that the kind of force of representation as a new town and developing area that Swords might have is being split between two constituencies. I am very pleased to have been given the opportunity to represent Swords and I know that part of the town particularly well. It suits me fine and I represented large areas of the old north County Dublin on the old Dublin County Council. I have many contacts in the area.

For the many thousands of people who have come to live in the new developing parts of Swords, they have barely got used to the idea of one set of public representatives before approximately 12,000 have found they must address public representatives with whom they have not been particularly familiar with up to now. They may be lucky in one sense in that the public representatives from Dublin West are the Minister for Finance, the Fine Gael spokesperson on enterprise and myself, as we are moderately well known.

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