John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate this evening on the moving of the writs by Fine Gael for the by-elections in Donegal South West, Dublin South and Waterford.

Over recent months the topic of the holding of by-elections has been the subject of widespread discussion and comment. While the Government fully recognises the entitlement of citizens to full representation, it is important to point out the various misrepresentations by the parties opposite of the actual facts of the position. People on the Opposition benches are often quick to point across the Irish Sea on how by-elections are dealt with there and on the need for us to copy their system to ensure full parliamentary representation.

One point that is conveniently or mistakenly forgotten by those parties is that our political system operates on a multi-seat basis. It is not the same system as that operated in the United Kingdom where there is only one elected representative per constituency.

I recognise that the optimum is to have each seat in each constituency filled but it is wrong to suggest that people do not have representation and are not represented in this House. Placing such a slant on this issue merely serves to denigrate to a certain extent the body politic and the hard work of Deputies such as Deputies Brendan Kenneally, John Deasy, Brian O'Shea, Tom Kitt, Olivia Mitchell, Eamon Ryan, Alan Shatter, Dinny McGinley and the Tánaiste, Deputy Mary Coughlan.

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