Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputies Brassil and O'Loughlin. I will take about ten minutes. I thank the boundary commission for completing a very difficult task. I think we will find that after each revision of the boundaries, there will be a very similar kind of debate here with some people happy and others unhappy. Essentially, there can be serious confusion for constituents, particularly on the fringes of electoral boundaries, who often find themselves in and out of constituencies. Accepting that, we must remember what the Constitution says. It talks about the tolerances between 20,000 and 30,000 - no less than 20,000 and no more 30,000. However, it also says that as far is practicable, it should be equal throughout the country and that it should be reviewed at least once every 12 years. That was put into the Constitution at a time when there was a census of population every ten years. After 1971, the census was reviewed every five years. This change brought into sharp focus the fact that the Constitution said it should be done at least every 12 years. We knew then that there were facts and figures showing that constituencies were out of sync with the results of the census. I saw it as well. I raised the matter continually in the Dáil throughout 2006. I did not get anywhere with it and Deputy Finian McGrath and I took a case to the High Court that was referred to on a number of occasions this evening.

On that occasion, ten constituencies were seriously out of line. When we look at how tight it can be with regard to who forms a Government, that matters. We can all look at our individual constituencies. It matters who forms a Government. If there is a difference of maybe two or three people on one side or the other side of the House and the boundaries have not been reviewed, one could rightly claim that it has been an undemocratic process. This is the point we must keep in mind. It is not just from rural to urban. During the review at that time, and we had a look at the numbers in some considerable detail, Dún Laoghaire had one seat too many and Dublin West had one seat too few. The irony was that one person was part of the next Government and the other person lost their seat. One should have been elected while there should not have been the extra seat in the other constituency, so it can matter. If we are really talking about democracy in the big sense of the word in terms of representing the country as it stands, we must not lose sight of that.

The judge in this case, who is now Chief Justice, reminded us that it was not just a Government obligation but the obligation of the Oireachtas to carry out this revision, although, in practice, we know the work is done by the particular Department, which is the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. He also said it should immediately set in train the review of the constituencies and that it was a matter of the utmost importance. We saw just recently that we could have been in the middle of a general election with a revision that should have taken place so we can see the urgency regarding making sure that we are true to the Constitution and that as far as is practicable, we make sure that every citizen in this country is equal. I wanted to make that point because I have listened to many things here that tend to look at it in a fragmented way, which is very frustrating because it is about a bigger principle. I can also feel great sympathy for people on the fringes of constituencies who are in and out and feel very frustrated about that and where one sees a town divided where it should not be divided.

I have been hugely frustrated by what we do not do with our census of population. I have seen numerous examples. The advertisement goes out and people are told to fill in the census form on census night, as they should and as I would always encourage them to do, because we need this information so that we can provide services. One then looks at how the census is or is not used. For example, how come Kildare has the lowest ratio of gardaí to population? Meath is pretty similar, as is the likes of Wexford. These are places that have grown very substantially and where there is a policing plan every year that is supposed to look at demographics and crime statistics. However, in fact, up to now, it has been a work of fiction. We look at some of the services that are provided by the HSE. They bear no relationship to that growing population and those needs. I have a huge criticism of the underuse of the census of population in terms of the delivery of service. It fails spectacularly in terms of what it asks people to put in the census form and what it does with the information afterwards. I had a look at the data relating to growth in the country over 20 years. If we start looking at the area around Dublin, we can see that the city centre grew by 13% while Cork city only grew by 1% so the figures are not growing in the right places. I looked at the fringes. Fingal grew by 43% while Meath grew by 44% and Kildare grew by 39%.

If we look at the delivery of services, we find the areas that have experienced a growth in population are the ones that lag behind in terms of the delivery of services. I use every opportunity to make that point because it drives me nuts. What should ultimately happen in terms of treating our democratic process with a degree of priority, which we have not often done, is the introduction of an overarching, independent statutory body with full operational and regulatory powers over the electoral process such as a chief electoral officer. When we have a referendum we have a referendum commission but a standing organisation could do research into good practice in terms of voter turnout and dealing with the electoral register on an ongoing basis. The present situation is quite confusing to people. If they fill out the form at a particular time of the year it is okay. However, getting onto the supplementary register can involve going to a Garda station and things like that can be off-putting. Such an organisation should look at voter registration and boundary divisions and redraw them. There would be consistency if it was done that way. Political finance, regulation and voter education could be included. There is merit in looking at the health of our democracy from the point of view of how we manage these things. We have not given it the attention it needs. I support the notion of directly elected mayors. It is a very positive thing. I hope when we are looking at boundaries, we are not strict in terms of the county boundaries because functional areas can be very different from the county boundaries. I hope that would be part of the consideration.

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