Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

I thank the Deputy on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government for raising the issue. She has an interest in this and she has expertise in the area, on which I compliment her.

The Minister published the Electoral (Amendment) Bill earlier and it contains three important electoral reforms. It amends the terms of reference of a constituency commission in section 6(2)(a) of the Electoral Act 1997 by providing that the number of members of the Dáil, subject to the relevant provisions of the Constitution, shall be not less than 152 and not more than 160. It provides for an amendment to be made to section 39(2) of the Electoral Act 1992 to provide that the writ for a Dáil by-election shall be issued within six months of the vacancy occurring and it provides for amendments to the Electoral Act 1997 to provide for a reduction in the spending limit at a presidential election from €1.3 million to €750,000 and for a reduction in the maximum amount that can be reimbursed to a candidate at a presidential election from €260,000 to €200,000.

While the provisions in the Bill will alter the terms of reference of a constituency commission, the overriding constitutional provisions relating to the number of Members of the Dáil and equality of representation will remain unchanged. Article 16.2.2o of the Constitution provides that Dáil representation "shall not be fixed at less than one member for each thirty thousand of the population, or at more than one member for each twenty thousand of the population." Article 16.2.3o of the Constitution provides that, "The ratio between the number of members to be elected at any time for each constituency and the population of each constituency, as ascertained at the last preceding census, shall, so far as it is practicable, be the same throughout the country."

The CSO published preliminary results from the 2011 census earlier and the results show an increase in the population to more than 4.5 million. In applying the constitutional provisions to this new population figure, the minimum number of TDs that can be recommended by a constituency commission, subject to enactment of the Bill by the Oireachtas, will be 153, while the maximum number will be 160.

A number of commitments are made in the programme for Government in the electoral reform area. These include significantly reducing the size of the Oireachtas and reducing the number of TDs following the publication of the 2011 census of population. The proposals in the Bill regarding the terms of reference of a constituency commission respond to this commitment. The Minister is required by law to establish a constituency commission to review Dáil and European Parliament constituencies upon the publication of preliminary census results by the CSO. This legal obligation on the Minister presents an opportunity to ensure the reduction in the number of Members of the Dáil can have effect as early as possible. The Minister indicated earlier that he will set in train the establishment of a constituency commission, which will report within three months of publication of the final census results, due in March 2012.

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