Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I am pleased to speak on this matter. One issue relevant to the matter of constituencies is the breaching of county boundaries. My constituency traverses Sligo and north Leitrim. Many people in Leitrim would prefer that the county was treated as one single constituency. They believe the county's interests as a whole would be better served as one entity. Whether this is true, it is a belief many people in the county hold.

The Electoral Act 1997 states that "the breaching of county boundaries shall be avoided as far as practicable". The issue of place and identity is something that is very important in Irish society. We see it every year in the GAA when people go in their thousands to support their counties. I understand the commission was impartial when drawing up the report, but that does not mean it is a perfect document or that the result is correct.

In my constituency some changes have been recommended. The 2003-2004 commission recommended, and the Oireachtas enacted, the establishment of the two three-seat constituencies of Roscommon-South Leitrim and Sligo-North Leitrim. The largest number of submissions on one issue received by the commission related to including all of County Leitrim in one constituency. These submissions were in the form both of direct requests that a change be made to this effect and specific proposals as to how this might be achieved. The arguments advanced in these submissions centred on the issue of ensuring that a representative from County Leitrim is elected to the Dáil.

The commission considered carefully each of the submissions relating to County Leitrim and was very much aware of the strength of feeling expressed on the issue. It also considered carefully all of the available options of including the county in one constituency. This included the proposals advanced in this regard in the submissions. The commission deemed that it was not possible to identify an alternative to the current arrangement of constituencies in the area that "both met the concerns advanced in the submissions and had no other undesirable impacts on the configuration of constituencies".

The commission deemed that each of the alternatives considered had one or more significant disadvantages, including the breaching of another county boundary, the placing of three counties in one constituency, geographic difficulties and extensive loss of continuity, including large population movement in the arrangement of constituencies. For these reasons, the commission recommended adherence to the general constituency configuration proposed in the report of the 2003-2004 commission and enacted by the Oireachtas.

There are some changes. The 2006 census records that the Sligo-North Leitrim constituency now has a variance of -7.53%. With Roscommon-South Leitrim having a variance of +1.48%, it is deemed by the commission that the variance in Sligo-North Leitrim is capable of being dealt with in that context. The commission deems that in the north of the existing Roscommon-South Leitrim constituency, it is possible to move a number of electoral divisions with a population of 3,376 into Sligo-North Leitrim. However, I do not agree. Sligo-North Leitrim included the county of Sligo and one third of Leitrim but the constituency of Roscommon-South Leitrim included Roscommon and two thirds of Leitrim. This gave Leitrim a half-decent chance of electing a Deputy within the county. With the local elections approaching, I know this will cause some upheaval for constituents in the areas affected. We must not forget that behind major reports such as this there are real people who are affected, the grassroots of democracy who will feel the effects of any proposed changes.

One of the changes that has been floated is that Ballisadare will be included in the Enniscrone electoral area. On the national stage this may not register but, as the saying goes, all politics is local. We must never forget the small parishes and villages around the country that are at the heart of our democracy and will be affected by this report. The Enniscrone electoral area is effectively a peninsula, surrounded by the sea to the north and west and the mountains to the south. It was a three-seat local election constituency. The Minister wanted to create four-seat constituencies but by changing that area, he has put a knife through other electoral areas. This has had a serious effect, as in the case of Ballisadare, divided by a river, where the main street is in one electoral area and the rest of the town in another. That is very unfair.

Perhaps the commission should be made up of political parties, members of which have an understanding of and a feeling for what is happening and the conditions on the ground. It is difficult to get everyone to agree on boundary changes because it will affect somebody somewhere. The commission makes a decision, closes the book and no one is responsible. We should try to move in the direction suggested.

See this speech in context