Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Listening to some of the debate this evening, I began to think that in addition to there being no need for an Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill, there is no need for an election. Based on the backslapping that has gone on in the past half hour, I think Members should automatically be re-elected. I jest.

I have been told by the Whip of my party, Deputy Moynihan, that there is a long-standing tradition, going back 40 years to when Jack Lynch introduced this system of boundary commissions, the purpose of which was to avoid gerrymandering, that no amendments are accepted. I would like to think that through this debate, we could break the tradition. I say that for a specific reason. I come from an area in County Louth that had nothing but confusion for many years. When I was growing up, one polling booth was in County Monaghan and the other one was in County Louth. The parish was totally divided in terms of who one's electoral support should be going to. I refer to that to show that the issue of where people vote is about identity. My constituency includes more than 22,000 voters in the coastal area of Meath. A constituency's name should reflect the area it represents; as boundary commissions change, that creates a problem. Those 22,000 voters in County Meath could almost elect a representative because 30,185 votes is the number required based on Louth's population of 150,924. It is terribly important that the name of the constituency is not just "Louth". Others have tabled other amendments on the issue of what the name should be. There is a constituency called Meath East which is traditionally the area that in Louth has been referred to as east Meath. Meath probably has the shortest county coastline in the country of approximately 13 km. The people of Julianstown, Mornington and Laytown should be able to identify with their area. It is for that reason I wish to contribute this evening. I know we will not deal with amendments until later but I believe there needs to be some thought on that issue.

We are a county with a long tradition of service and are very proud to have had Pádraig Faulkner, Séamus Kirk and Rory O'Hanlon, who served the Monaghan constituency, elected as Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil. If we consider the era of Frank Aiken and the various Ministers that served then, we know the electorate identifies with those who work on behalf of their constituents. Deputy Murphy referred to the issue of other areas coming in. People need to be clear on who their representatives are and in this case the name does not reflect that. I am sure representatives of other counties would say the same. In this case, "Louth Coastal Meath" is an apt name.

See this speech in context