Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

I am sharing two minutes of with Deputy Michael McCarthy. I thank Deputy Troy for his generosity in sharing time. Given the fundamental nature of this legislation we should have been given more time on Second Stage to allow us to express a diversity of opinions.

I wish to correct a report in The Irish Times today which cited the Minister as stating there is one Deputy per 20,271 head of population. However, according to the preliminary census results the correct ratio is 1:27,598. From reading the transcript, I understand the Minister actually said there was one representative for every 20,271 people, and he included Senators to come up with that figure. I think that is disingenuous on the part of the Minister. We in this House are the representatives of the people. We are elected by our constituents, so it is disingenuous to include Senators in that sense. Constitutionally, the ratio is set out according to the number of TDs to population.

The Minister also talked last night about reducing the size and cost of government. With all our economic problems, we need to start naming the ideology behind ideas. The idea of reducing the size and cost of government is right wing ideology and Tea Party philosophy.

What will be the Minister's legacy on political reform in a few years? I reckon his gender quota initiative will probably fail on constitutional grounds. I reckon the Seanad will never be abolished. It looks like the Minister is already kicking it to touch. I would not be surprised anyway if, at the end of the day, the people rejected the abolition of the Seanad. His biggest achievement will then have been to cut the number of TDs by between six and 13. That will be it, even though the Minister could be looking at so many challenges now under his portfolio, including so-called local government reform. I do not wish to use the word "reform", because it is being debased by its use as a euphemism for cuts. We need to empower local government. Other issues such as climate change should also take priority over this at his Department. In his words and actions, the Minister is undermining the value of representation, which is the core of democracy.

These Houses were founded in 1919 and 1922, respectively. They brought us out of a civil war. They brought about a peace process. They had great achievements and successes along the way. At the whim of a spin doctor, the next opinion poll or the focus group he met last week, the Minister would just turn around and decide to cut the number of TDs and abolish the Seanad. He is butchering the Constitution before there is a proper analysis. His comparisons yesterday were again disingenuous. There are many countries with members of parliament representing between 15,000 and 35,000 people. Political scientists have a rule known as the cube root law of assembly, which is 166 Deputies for Ireland. The same formula would show that the UK and other countries are over-represented, and not Ireland.

There are flaws in the Bill. The figure of 153 Deputies may well end up being unconstitutional by the time the actual census results come out. The 2006 preliminary census figures were out by almost 5,000, so the Bill could be unconstitutional in a few months and provide unconstitutional terms of reference for the boundary commission. Where will that leave the commission? This is the first time in the history of the State that a boundary commission is being asked to reduce the number of TDs. This has never happened before. The commission has not done the populist thing and the Minister is abdicating his responsibility under the Constitution. It is the Oireachtas that sets the number of TDs, not an Oireachtas commission. The Minister is abdicating his responsibility in this area and, in that sense, it is a cowardly act.

See this speech in context