Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Changing the shape and size of constituencies and the number of Deputies is a worthy topic, but these are small concerns compared to our need to tackle the unemployment crisis and to create more jobs. I wish the special Cabinet meeting this afternoon the best of luck in its work in that regard and look forward to seeing what ideas come from it.

I want to put on the record during this stage of the debate the objections I have to the renaming of the constituency of Dublin South-East to Dublin Bay South. Dublin South-East was created in 1947 for the general election to the 13th Dáil, from the old constituency of Dublin Townships, which had been part of the original constituency of Dublin County in the second Dáil. I remind the House that in 1948 the constituency of Dublin South-East elected three Deputies, including Fine Gael Deputy and leader, John A Costello, who became Taoiseach in that Dáil and Fianna Fáil Deputy, Seán McEntee, who served as a Minister for Finance and was a member of every Fianna Fáil Cabinet from 1932 to 1965. The constituency also elected Noel Browne, who was elected first to Dublin South-East. He was appointed Minister for Health on his first day in the Dáil and went on to do great work in the area of TB and became a hero of the left.

The Dublin South-East constituency has elected two leaders of this nation - John A. Costello and Garret FitzGerald - both of whom represented the Acting Chairman's party. The former President, Mary McAleese, ran for election in the constituency. Indeed, another former President, Mary Robinson, ran in a local election in the Rathmines township. Dublin South-East has also elected three other former party leaders - Deputy Ruairí Quinn of the Labour Party, Michael McDowell of the Progressive Democrats and John Gormley of the Green Party. I am making these points to show that the voters of my constituency have lived with the Dublin South-East name for decades.

The Constituency Commission suggested in its report that there is very little sense of place in Dublin South-East and very little connection with the name. I contend that there is a strong sense of identity in the constituency. There is a strong connection with the locality and with the name of the constituency. The statement made in the report of the Constituency Commission is misinformed and wrong. The voters of Dublin South-East are attached to the name of the constituency after using it for 65 years. None of the submissions made to the commission called for a change of name.

It is probable that the commission's sense of the geography of Dublin Bay is seriously misinformed. The name change makes no historical or geographical sense. Terenure village, which has been added into Dublin South-East, is 6 km from Sandymount strand. I remind the House that the urban villages of Portobello, Rathmines, Rathgar, Ranelagh, Milltown, Ballsbridge and Donnybrook are not beside the sea. I hope it remains that way. Perhaps this is why we need to include serious targets in the forthcoming climate change Bill. More of the constituency fronts onto the River Liffey and the quays than onto the coast. The Ringsend, Irishtown and Pearse Street areas have a natural affinity with the River Liffey and Dublin Port, rather than with Dublin Bay. Sandymount is the only part of the constituency that fronts onto Dublin Bay, and then for a distance of just 2 km.

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Hogan, to the Chamber. I put it to him that Dublin South-East is a city centre constituency with no interest in having "Dublin Bay" included in its name. If any constituency on the south side suits the "Dublin Bay South" tag, it is probably the Dún Laoghaire constituency. I accept that the naming of Dublin Bay North makes more sense, given that the constituency includes Clontarf, Bull Island and the Howth Peninsula, which actually look out on the bay. The only reason provided in the report for changing the name of Dublin South-East is symmetry. I suggest the constituency that matches Dublin South-East on the north side is Dublin Central rather than the proposed Dublin Bay North. The commission has mismatched the names it has used. I urge the Minister to accept an amendment on Committee Stage to retain the current name. The proposed name change has little or no public support. Change for the sake of change is no change at all.

I am disappointed that the number of three-seat constituencies has not been more substantially reduced. The decrease from 16 to 13 in the number of such constituencies reflects the decrease from 43 to 40 in the total number of constituencies. That works against the principle of proportional representation, which is that seats should be allocated in proportion to how votes are cast. I am also disappointed that the significant under-representation of the Dublin constituency in the European Parliament is not being addressed. There is a variance of 11%. The number of people per MEP in Dublin is almost 60,000 higher than the number in the rest of the country. That will need to be addressed when the European Parliament constituencies are revised following the accession of Croatia to the EU.

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