Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012. The Bill primarily focuses on the changes that the Government has announced to Dáil constituencies.

I welcome that the legislation commits to respecting county boundaries where possible. This is important to me because the boundaries of County Limerick, which I represent, were not respected at all by the previous Constituency Commission. To facilitate the retention of six seats in County Kerry for this Dáil, 17,500 people were taken out of County Limerick and, essentially, disenfranchised. While this was seen as a cynical exercise by the people of Limerick, the reversal of the decision by the current commission was broadly welcomed.

Ironically, the last commission could not possibly be regarded as having had a political agenda or of fighting for one corner over another. Although it recommended six seats in Kerry and the then government failed to get one of them, had Kerry been a five seater, Fianna Fáil would probably have won one seat. In fairness, the people were spared that.

The reduction in the number of Deputies to 158 - within the constraints set out by the Constitution currently - together with the reduction in the number of councillors, the abolition of town councils and the proposed constitutional amendment on the abolition of the Seanad demonstrate the commitment by the Government to reducing the number of politicians and bringing about a slimmed down political structure. This should be welcomed. However, we need to ask what we expect of our political structure and how it needs to change and adapt to reflect what we want.

Yesterday, I saw the worst spectacle I have seen since I came into this House, where the independence of the Chair and of the position of Ceann Comhairle were openly and aggressively attacked. In my time as a member of a local authority, I never saw a spectacle like that to which we were subjected yesterday, where the acting leader of the Sinn Féin Party launched what can only be described as a totally unprovoked and unnecessary attack on the independence of the Chair and the Ceann Comhairle. Time should be afforded to that Deputy, by either the Government or the Opposition, to come into the House and apologise to it and the Ceann Comhairle for her behaviour. It was totally disrespectful not only to the position and the person who holds the position of Ceann Comhairle, but to the parliamentary position of the House also.

In terms of the political changes that have taken place, while there is no doubt the House has structures that are old and outdated and need to be changed, some of the initiatives the Government and the Government Whip have taken are welcome. These include the introduction of topical issues and the facility for backbench Deputies, whether from the government or opposition side of the House, to bring forward legislation. However, there is scope for further engagement with Opposition parties with regard to their view on how the Dáil could operate more effectively. To date, no proposal has come forward from the Opposition, but perhaps something will come from this discussion over the next couple of days.

Another issue that needs to be addressed with regard to how the House operates is the definition of what constitutes a party. Some people have it both ways. They are paid as Independent Deputies, but they operate as part of a party. They have a Whip structure and get time as a party and vote and operate as a party. They even kick people out of their group as a party and hold parliamentary meetings when they need to. However, they are paid as Independent Members.

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