Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The people of Derry sought to change the name of their city a long time ago. I ask the Minister of State and his officials to bring this error to the attention of Ordnance Survey Ireland and to advise that we should no longer slavishly use that type of colonial language.

The commission's report is advisory, it being thereafter a matter for the Oireachtas to settle these matters, in accordance with the commission's terms of reference. Section 6(2)(f) of the Electoral Act 1997 states "Subject to the provisions of this section, the Commission shall endeavour to maintain continuity in relation to the arrangements of constituencies". In the case of Laois, Offaly and Kildare South, however, that is not the case. Laois-Offaly was the same constituency from 1923 to 2016, with Laurence Brady being the last Sinn Féin Deputy to be elected before I took my seat in February 2011. I thank the people of Laois-Offaly for electing me to what was then a five-seat constituency. In 2012, we received a report like the one we are discussing today indicating that the boundaries would be changed to create a three-seat constituency of Laois, which, in order to have an adequate population, would include a chunk of Kildare South, comprising Monasterevin, Kilberry and Kildangan. The view at the time was that I was unlikely to be returned at the next election, but the good people of Monasterevin, Kilberry and Kildangan gave me a good vote, having worked hard for them in the previous two years. I will continue to represent them until the end of the Thirty-second Dáil. In fact, I have a small office in Monasterevin and although the people there will not be able to vote for me again, I have a duty to continue to represent them.

It is fair enough that Monasterevin, Kilberry and Kildangan are to be returned to Kildare South.

There is, however, also a large chunk coming out of Laois and a small bite coming out of Offaly. Some 9,450 people from Laois and 2,404 people from Offaly will go in to make up the new Kildare South constituency, which will be a four seater. That was a three seater. There will be pieces of three counties going to make up one constituency in the bottom half of Kildare.

I understand that sometimes a county boundary has to be broken. We argued this with the Minister of State's predecessor, the former Minister, Phil Hogan. In fact, if I remember correctly, we had arguments about a good few things. Sometimes we agreed on some issues, especially on the boundary of Graiguecullen, an issue that went on for years. Deputy Pat Deering will be familiar with it. Phil Hogan was the one man who did make the change, which I had raised with him in the Dáil, to align the county council boundary in Graiguecullen with the general election boundary, with the GAA boundary and with the county boundary. It is one of the good things the then Minister achieved in that Dáil and I give him credit for it. It was the sensible thing to do.

Moving on to where we are now, as things stand and without the changes, the report states: "While Laois and Kildare constituencies have acceptable variations, it is necessary to alter these to address the high variances in the Offaly constituency." In the last census, Offaly had a population of 77,961 and County Laois had a population of 84,697, and it is growing by the day. Laois is a fast growing county. The national average of population per Deputy is 29,762. There were better options and there is a problem because not only is the proposal breaking into two counties, but it is also breaching a small area, Gracefield, with a small chunk coming out of east Offaly and into Kildare South. A very large chunk is also being taken out of Laois, with all of Portarlington, Killenard, Ballybrittas and Jamestown going in with Kildare.

Turning to what could have happened, a small piece could have been taken out of Tipperary. According to the report, the Laois and Kildare numbers were fine but the problem was with Offaly, which needed some more population. That part of North Tipperary with which people were connected since the last boundary change could have been left with Offaly. A piece of Westmeath or County Meath could also have come into the north of Offaly, as could the piece of east Kildare where the boundary was already moved. Any of those options could have given Offaly sufficient population to retain three seats and would have meant breaching only one county boundary, not two.

As Deputy Eoin Ó Broin said, I understand that the commission does not have an easy job. Every action it takes has a knock-on consequence. We know that most actions have knock-on consequences as when we move one piece of a jigsaw. I can see that, but I have looked at it and there were a number of other options. I am trying to be impartial here, but, being a Deputy, it is hard. One can imagine what it is like to be elected to Laois-Offaly, when one feels one is doing grand, getting to know the people of Offaly and doing the clinics. The next thing one discovers they are gone and one has to keep representing them. I kept representing those people right up to the finish of the Thirty-first Dáil in February 2016. Having had a greater base in Kildare South, I now find myself losing the Kildare South constituency, although I will continue to represent the people there. I now have to go back to Laois-Offaly again.

The consequence of this boundary change is three different constituencies in five years and two county boundaries having changed. I have another consequence for the Minster of State - Kildare has an absolute guarantee of eight Deputies after the next election. It will be four and four, but what is Laois guaranteed? Kildare has a population of some 220,000 but Laois will have a population of almost 90,000 by the next election. Laois is growing faster than Kildare for a number of reasons, which I will not go into here, according to the last two censuses. Laois could possibly wind up with only two Deputies after the next election, with a population of 90,000, whereas neighbouring Kildare, with a population of 220,000, will wind up with an absolute guarantee of eight Deputies. The Deputies who are elected to Kildare South, such as Deputy Fiona MacLoughlin if she is lucky to be elected-----

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