Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I will begin as I know the debate will adjourn at 1.30 p.m. We all effectively outlined our views on this Bill some time ago in early summer, and we have had a debate on the report of the Constituency Commission. The legislation was not discussed in detail at that point but listening to some of the speakers today, we are effectively making the same speeches. Despite that round of statements in the Chamber a few months back, there were no changes and we are coming back to speak on the exact same issue.

I queried at the time why we were having such statements when legislation was forthcoming. It probably had more to do with the fact that the Dáil fell on three separate occasions prior to the summer because of a lack of business than any real consensus-building exercise, although it may have been painted as such.

Like some speakers, I have a vested interest in this — that may be the best way to put it. My loss could be the gain of the Minister of State, Deputy Máire Hoctor, or more likely that of Deputy Coonan. I will speak later on the south Offaly area in particular.

The decision of the Constituency Commission — one may call it wisdom — has caused a great degree of anger and confusion. It has added unnecessary complication to the electoral process in some of the affected areas. It was interesting to hear Deputy Kelly discuss the Midland Regional Authority, which he and I were members of at the same time. For example, all the people of Offaly are represented on the Midland Regional Authority but there will be no representation from the people of north Tipperary. The two constituencies will now be intermingled.

Similarly, representatives on the Midland Regional Authority from the proposed constituency of Longford-Westmeath may have issues. Much of the work of the Midland Regional Authority relates directly to Europe and it has representatives such as Councillor Constance Hanniffy on the committee of the regions and so on. The authority has now effectively been put into two separate European constituencies by the Constituency Commission report.

That leads to much complication and confusion, particularly when people feel the need to lobby Deputies for this House and MEPs for the European Parliament. There is immediately a great increase in the number of people who need to be in discussions, which does not always lead to fruitful discussion.

One aspect which annoyed me most was that when we had the debate in the summer, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley, stated that the changes to Laois-Offaly are relatively minor. I am sure he knows the history of the State as well as any of us but it is the first time the constituency has been changed and for the people of the area it is anything but minor. It was a disappointing way to put it, although I presume it was the perceived Government view. The Minister was clearly speaking as a representative for all parties in Government when he made his statement rather than just as a Green Party Deputy. It certainly colours my view of the matter.

It is important we remember and acknowledge that the commission is given its terms of reference by the Government, and the public should be aware of that. That happened in this instance also, although it was not the current Government made up of Fianna Fáil, the Green Party and the Progressive Democrats. The previous Government consisting of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats gave those terms of reference.

If the terms of reference had been clearer, there would have been an opportunity to reduce some of the anomalies thrown up, but the commission was not given that opportunity. Everybody must admit that the Constitution takes precedence and we must meet the requirements under it regarding the number of Deputies based on population in each area. There has been an attempt to muddy the waters in that regard but it is important it is made clear that the commission is given terms of reference. We will need to examine this in future and see how the commission's terms of reference need to be changed.

See this speech in context