John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

In fact, it was a member of the Labour Party who made the only submission which suggested that Sandymount should be split. When publishing the reports on 17 June 2008, I announced that, consistent with long-established practice in respect of constituency formation at European, national and local levels in Ireland, I was accepting the recommendations contained in them. It is my view that to review or seek to amend the recommendations of the committees at this stage, or to seek to second guess their approach to their terms of reference, would undermine the independent and apolitical nature of the process.

There is strong cross-party consensus on the need for an independent, non-partisan approach to constituency revision in Ireland.

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