John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

At the outset, it might be helpful if I set out the background to this matter for the House.

A review of local electoral areas was necessary prior to the 2009 local elections on account of population changes since the last review in 1998. Accordingly, on 8 January 2008, I announced that I had established two committees to review local electoral areas and I detailed the terms of reference. The committees are independent from the Minister. They do their work based on submissions received and based on their own analysis, and they make their independent recommendations accordingly.

One committee was required to report on Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford City Councils, and on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin County Councils. The other committee was required to report on the electoral areas in counties outside of Dublin, on the borough councils of Drogheda and Sligo and on the town councils of Bray and Dundalk. The committees were required to report as soon as possible, and not later than 20 June 2008.

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