Peter Kelly (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Higgins for welcoming us to the North-West constituency. We will take up his invitation to do the best we can. We will feel welcome in Galway and if at all possible, when Deputy Higgins votes, he should not forget Fianna Fáil and should try to elect one or two Fianna Fáil candidates for the North-West constituency. That would be good of him. As for the changes to the European constituencies, Longford is close to Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo and Connacht in general, as well as to Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Clare and Galway. Consequently, in a European context, Longford is in the right constituency this time, namely, the North-West constituency.

I am sure that many will put their names forward to contest the European elections. This is highly important; people now realise the importance of being part of the European Union. If one travels the world and visits Asia, Africa or anywhere else outside of Europe, even perhaps in North America, people will ask where one is from. If one replies that one is from Ireland, the response will be that as Ireland is part of the European Union, one really is from Europe. Such people focus on European policy and trade. Europe has a huge population that constitutes an enormous market for the rest of the world's exports.

I look forward to the European elections and note that the European Union has served us well. However, we also have served it well and played our part as true visionaries. I refer to people who preceded me such as Jack Lynch who did Ireland a great service in 1972 by signing Ireland's accession treaty with the European Union to take effect in 1973. The former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, did us proud in the last European Parliament when Ireland held the Presidency of the European Union. It was well known and widely thought that during its six months' Presidency, the Irish Government was equal to, if not better than, any other government which held the Presidency in the history of the European Union.

Having spoken of the Dáil and the European Parliament, I wish to say a few words about county council electoral areas in County Longford. There has been a slight revision involving a change in population from one area to another. Overall, I welcome the revision in County Longford which has some excellent county councillors on a 21-member county council. The Drumlish electoral area in north Longford has been changed slightly. I started out in the mid-Longford area in 1985, part of which, around Newtownforbes, has been transferred to the Drumlish area. The other areas in County Longford are Ballymahon in south Longford and the Ballinalee-Granard area. Overall, I am looking forward to the local elections in Longford in June. It will be a great opportunity for everyone to get out and about to meet the people and I look forward to success for all candidates.

On the subject of local elections, I take the opportunity to compliment and congratulate the director of services and staff at Longford County Council who maintain the register of electors. All politics is local, as has been stated in the House many times, and Members should appeal to everyone to register. In fairness to the director of services and staff of Longford County Council at Great Water Street, Longford, anyone who wishes to contact them whenever the office is open will experience nothing but courtesy and efficiency. If people apply to the office in time, their queries will be answered. Moreover, the office in Longford County Council remains open to deal with queries from electors from the minute polling stations open in the morning until their closure in the evening. I apologise to people for not being aware of this until after the last election. It was found in isolated cases that people had arrived at the polling stations who were not on the register for some reason. However, those who contacted the office enabled it to check the matter and acknowledge they should have been on the register. People did not realise there was this facility. It is a great facility to have because those who go to the polling station only to discover they are not on the register become highly annoyed, upset and frustrated because it is one's democratic right to vote. Such persons feel unjustly deprived. Perhaps Members should take the opportunity to appeal to the people that if they are in any doubt about being on the register, they should check it out. They should get in touch with their local county council and simply ask whether they are on the register by sending an e-mail, dropping a note, making a telephone call or visiting the relevant office. With the local elections coming up, one realises how it has been disappointing for people over the years when they find some family members go to vote and are not on the register. The first action one should take when heading for an election is to ensure the people being asked to vote can do so. We would like to see everyone able to vote.

The Bill is to amend the law relating to the constituency revision process, having regard to the implications of the High Court judgment arising from the Murphy and McGrath cases. It is also to provide an alternative statutory mechanism to regulate the nomination of non-party candidates, as I said, at European and local elections.

A Constituency Commission was established under the Electoral Act 1997 on 26 April 2007 to make a report relating to constituencies for the election of Members to Dáil Éireann and MEPs to the European Parliament. I do not know if sympathy is the right word but we have a feeling for people living in counties which have been divided. For local elections, some feel parishes should not be divided. Perhaps parishes should not be divided and they should use the GAA model where a person can only play for a team in one's own parish and people living outside that parish are expected to play for the other parish's team. There is a great bond, love and commitment from the people to the place of their birth, where they were reared and where they live and work. It is where their mother, father and grandparents came from, and people like to be part and parcel of it. Sometimes a parish is divided and people in one parish would have to vote for a person in another.

I know population is the basis for this division but maybe we can even it out as best we can. As the previous speaker indicated, perhaps every county in Ireland should have the opportunity to elect somebody from that county or who resides there.

We also wish to provide for the numbers to be elected in accordance with the report. Since independent constituency commissions were initiated in 1979, it is established practice that the Government accepts the recommendations in the report. This Bill provides accordingly and the final determination of constituencies is a matter for the Oireachtas to prescribe in legislation. Options relating to constituency formation are a matter for the commission.

There will be no significant costs or impacts as a result of implementing the commission's report. All Ministers were consulted in advance of the Bill's publication and submissions in the Constituency Commission are dealt with under section 2.4 on page 9 of the report.

With regard to my constituency, I welcome this Bill and look forward to supporting it. There is a recommendation that the number of Deputies remains the same, with one public representative per 30,000 people for the Dáil. I thank the Acting Chairman and Deputy Michael D. Higgins for welcoming me to the new constituency. I thank Deputy Enright for having the patience to listen for the past 20 minutes.

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