Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have an opportunity to speak on the Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2017.

This Bill will provide for the implementation of the Constituency Commission Report 2017, the recommendations of which include increasing the number of Deputies from 158 to 160 and reducing the number of constituencies to 39. I am in sympathy with previous speakers who referred to parts of constituencies moving back and forth. In most of my time in this House, my constituency has moved north and south, through it cannot move east because of the sea. Since the 1980s, we have not had an election in which the constituency remained the same. I am also sympathetic to the people in the areas affected. In my case, the Raheny and Edenmore parishes have gone back and forth between constituencies, though they had an advantage in that there would have been up to eight Deputies in the historic Dublin North-East and Dublin North-West constituencies, which were joined together to form Dublin Bay North. The Deputies in question would have represented parts of the two parishes to which I refer. At the prospect of a pre-Christmas general election, my former colleague, Joe Costello, took a case to the High Court claiming that such an election would be unconstitutional given that constituency changes had not taken place. Happily, that election did not materialise and we are dealing with the changes tonight.

The decision by the Kenny-Gilmore Government to reduce the number of Deputies in the Dáil from 166 to 158 was a typically ill-considered and short-term action from those two politicians and a bad mistake for Irish democracy. In the cut and thrust of constituency and Dáil electoral politics, the 158 serving Deputies are generally good value for their constituents. I have always believed in a larger Dáil- with, perhaps, 180 Members - rather than a smaller one. There could be 20 five-seaters and 20 four-seaters and there could even be bigger constituencies. There is an issue with bigger constituencies, however, with which all of us, the Leas-Cheann Comhairle included, have lived for some time. In Dublin Bay North, there are 152,000 people and 58,000 households, which we have to visit each quarter with our reports to constituents. It is a huge task because, unlike constituencies outside Dublin, anyone in our constituency can ask us to move a representation on his or her behalf. This means that we represent constituencies that are perhaps twice or even three times the size of a Westminster constituency, which is strange in light of the population of England.

While every Seanad usually has a few good representatives and performers, from my early months in this House - when I visited with schoolchildren and young people from Dublin north east - I have always believed that the Upper House should be abolished, with the savings going to strong local government led by directly-elected executive mayors, especially in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. The Kenny-Gilmore Government decided on a policy of abolishing the Seanad but refused to mount any significant campaign to achieve that objective. Senator Michael McDowell and others talk of reforming the Seanad by giving it a popular mandate but Ireland does not need two Dáileanna, especially in light of the work of the Constitutional Convention and the growing part played by referenda. The people should constitute our second House and we should come back to the agenda of an enhanced Dáil, as a single House, as is the case in New Zealand, Denmark and other countries that have changed from bicameral to unicameral systems.

The Minister is bringing a position paper to Cabinet relating to directly-elected executive mayors. I would warmly welcome this because it has been a constant theme among people with whom I entered politics, especially in the case of the greater Dublin region but also in respect of the greater Cork region in light of the changes being made to Cork in order to make it a leading European-sized second city. I hope the Minister's plans will take shape in time for the 2019 elections and that there will be new executives by that time. I have felt for some years that the housing situation is just not being dealt with in the context of the four Dublin counties and we need an overall executive to be able to address such issues. We have seen the success of these positions and of executives and cabinets in London, Liverpool and Manchester, our great neighbouring cities across the sea, each of which now has a person who can speak for it.

I made a submission to the Constituency Commission in January as part of its consultation process in the wake of the results of census 2016. I agreed with the increase of two in the overall number of Deputies and called for them to be given to the Dublin and Leinster region, particularly as the population of the latter is heading for 3 million. The region should be properly represented in this House. I also indicated that my first preference would be to return to the previous constituency boundaries relating to Dublin North-East, with Portmarnock, Balgriffin and Kinsealy once again included, and the restoration of the three-seat model. I also proposed that Dublin North Central should be reconstituted as a three-seat constituency, with any necessary additional territory and population returning from the Santry and lower Fairview-North Strand areas. It would be right to have six Deputies for that huge population covering 35 or 40 parishes. My second preference was to leave Dublin Bay North alone and not to lose any territory or population, because the communities and parishes of the constituency have very close social, economic and cultural affinity and civic and political groups and organisations are just beginning to get used to the merged constituency. There is work for six or even seven Deputies there and one could say the same for Laois-Offaly and other constituencies. Increased representation should have been the way forward, rather than what happened under the previous Government.

The Schedule to the Bill sets out the list of constituencies. Dublin Bay North, which I am proud to represent, is remaining as a five-seat constituency, with some boundary changes. If the Bill is approved, it will mean that the electoral division of Drumcondra south, comprising 5,000 people, will be transferred out of my constituency and into Dublin Central. Having represented a constituency which has changed after every electoral commission, I will continue my usual practice of representing the area that elected me right up to the next general election, which includes Drumcondra south in this case.

Dublin Bay North has a population of 152,943, meaning there are 30,589 citizens per Deputy, which is the basis of the rationale in the report for the reduction of 5,000. North and west Dublin are under-represented and, given the major changes planned in construction and development over the coming years, I have consistently raised the importance of collaborative development on the north fringe of Dublin city and the adjoining south fringe of Fingal county and stressed the need for close co-operation between both local authorities in these areas. A colleague spoke earlier of representing three county councils or three major local authorities and I appreciate the enormous amount of work that goes into that. The north fringe spans a territory from Clonshaugh and Belcamp across to Burnell, Belmayne and Clongriffin and on to Baldoyle and south Portmarnock on the coast. The population is growing and, at long last, construction has begun. As I said to the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government a few weeks ago, however, we are laying foundation stones rather than delivering homes for our young population.

Were it not for the crash, we would have had by now a thriving new district in an area that has been lacking in basic infrastructure and resources for the many families who live there. In my submission to the commission, I noted that the division of the region locally between Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council has created problems, month after month and year after year, for the coherent and sustainable development of the new city region.

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I highlighted the importance of local Oireachtas representation invigilating those matters and that the best method to do so would be in one constituency to ensure better accountability for the development of the region.

Deputy Cowen has submitted an amendment asking that Dublin Bay North and Dublin Bay South go back to being called Dublin North East and Dublin South East. Dublin North-East had been a constituency since the mid-1930s, when it covered roughly the same territory as it does now. When it became more populated it became two constituencies, Dublin North-East and Dublin North-Central. It is an interesting proposal, but the population and civic society have got used to the acronym DBN for Dublin Bay North. The general feeling is that maybe we should leave the name of the constituency alone because it expresses the huge affinity we have with the ocean and the bay, with special amenity areas on Bull Island and in Howth and throughout the constituency. I am easy on it, but my preference is to leave Dublin Bay North with its name, which the commission in the 2011 Parliament came up with.

In general terms I welcome the fact the Dáil is expanding. I would have expanded it much more, with the concomitant impact of having it as a single powerful unicameral Chamber but making sure people on the ground were really well represented with sufficient Deputies. As it is, I will support the commission's report, even with the loss of south Drumcondra.

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