Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

I do not intend to dwell on the boundaries drawn in the constituency review. My constituency will increase from a three-seater to a four-seater, which is positive for me, but the difficulty is that the county town of Swords has been split down its main street. Similarly, the village of Clonsilla has been more or less split down the middle for the local authority elections. I appreciate people do not live in settlements of 25,000 and that if they did, it would be very convenient. The boundary must be drawn somewhere and someone will end up on the wrong side of it. The Taoiseach suggested the House could dissect the report but that should not happen. It was drafted independently and we must accept it, for better or worse.

I do not agree with Deputy Finian McGrath who suggested yesterday the number of Members should be increased on the basis of the increase in the population. The Dáil is probably one of the few areas in the public service where numbers have not increased. The population to TD ratio has increased considerably, which is positive. It would send a bad message to the people if the size of the Parliament was increased at a time when the rest of the public service is being asked to downsize. When Germany experienced a financial crisis seven or eight years ago, the membership of its parliament was reduced and that helped to give leadership regarding other reforms to be introduced.

I refer to the increasing imbalance in representation in various local authority areas. For example, there is one councillor per 10,000 people in Fingal County Council. The figures are similar in Dublin city, Cork county and city. We have three or four Deputies and nine councillors in Fingal, whereas other parts of the country are represented by five Deputies and 60 councillors. The Minister has the power under the Local Government Act 2003 to vary the size of local authorities. While he cannot make such a change before next year's elections, I ask him to examine this issue during his term to ascertain which local authorities need to increase or decrease in terms of representation. It is a very difficult for one councillor to represent 10,000 people, given that he or she receives the same allowances as those who represent far fewer people.

I agree with the introduction of spending limits for local government elections. At yesterday's committee meeting the suggestion was that the limit should apply for three months prior to election date. That probably makes sense but it must be recognised it should not only be based on the number of seats in the ward. The spending limits for Dáil elections are based on the number of seats and candidates per constituency. However, for example, Mulhuddart has a population of almost 50,000 in 20,000 households. The spending limit in that five-seat ward should be different from that for a five-seater in a county with a population of 10,000 and 3,000 households. When the Minister and his officials devise the scheme, the spending limit should be based on the population of the electoral area rather than the number of seats. If the spending limit is €20,000 in an area with a population of 50,000, that equates to spending 40 cent per voter over three months. One cannot do much for that amount. One could not deliver a leaflet to every household or erect sufficient posters. Will the Minister link the local election spending limits with the population of the ward and not the number of seats?

I am unhappy with the process for making boundary changes. Deputy Burton drew attention to the different way this is done in the United Kingdom where the Electoral Commission publishes a proposed set of new boundaries. People then examine and respond to them before they are reviewed and adopted.

See this speech in context