John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, it was not a personal request. The report conducted by one of the committees in respect of municipal districts recommended changes to nine or ten areas that were in conflict with stated Government policy.

Changes to local electoral area boundaries may only be carried out following the completion of a review by an independent boundary committee. As Deputy Browne pointed out, these committees are established under section 28 of the Local Government Act 1991. The Act states that the Minister must have regard to the report of a boundary committee before deciding on whether to make an order amending local electoral areas. The key phrase there is "local electoral areas". In this case I set out the terms of reference for the boundary committee myself. Section 28 deals exclusively with local electoral areas. In this instance the reports of both committees in respect of local electoral areas were adopted in full. I established two independent groups, committee No. 1 and committee No. 2, in December 2017 to review and make recommendations on local electoral areas having regard to, among other things, the results of the census of 2016 as well as the commitment to consider reducing the size of territorially large local electoral areas and to ensure adequate levels of representation for towns and urban centres.

Concerns had been raised by a number of local authority members across different areas and by the Association of Irish Local Government about the territorial size and configuration of some of the local electoral areas specified following the last boundary review. The demands on councillors in territorially large areas are greater than those on councillors in more compact areas, even when member to population ratios are broadly similar. This can arise due to distance, travel time and the difficulty in keeping abreast of local issues. A further concern which had been raised was the perceived loss of focus on some of the large urban centres by virtue of their inclusion in territorially large local electoral areas.

A further concern raised is the perceived loss of focus on some large urban centres by virtue of their inclusion in territorially large local electoral areas. The report on local government, Municipal Governance - Districts, Towns and Local Electoral Areas, submitted to the Government last year, builds on these concerns and makes several recommendations, including a distinct municipal district to be designated for each of the former boroughs and towns with a population of 30,000 or more within the relevant county, each with a minimum of five members and one or more local electoral areas; and distinct town based or urban electoral areas to be created specifically for the 24 largest urban centres with a population of 15,000 or more.

In the case of Wexford, the commitment to consider reducing the size of territorially large electoral areas, together with the requirement to assign no more than seven councillors to each electoral area, has led to the recommendations in the report that would see the creation of six local electoral areas, LEAs, formed, with a focus on the centres of Enniscorthy, Gorey, Kilmore, Kilmuckridge, New Ross and Wexford. The recommendations made in the local electoral area boundary committee reports in respect of LEAs were accepted in full. This is reflected in the statutory instruments which I signed on 19 December 2018. The overall policy objectives have, in the main, been met, particularly in respect of the creation of distinct town based or urban electoral areas for large urban areas with a population in excess of 15,000.

In respect of the Gorey-Kilmuckridge issue, it is an area that I do not know as well as the Deputy. Geographically, more than half of what is now the Kilmuckridge electoral area was previously in the Gorey district. The view was taken that the east coast part of Wexford was more associated with Gorey than with any other town in County Wexford. I have today written to the chairman of Wexford County Council asking for consideration to be given by him and the members and executive of the council to changing the statutory instrument if there is a recommendation that it be changed. We were limited in respect of the boundary review that the old Enniscorthy area of eight seats and the old Gorey area of eight seats meant that there had to be changes in the district. I emphasise that the local electoral area as drawn up by the committee has not been changed by this. It is an administrative issue and if Wexford County Council believes there is an economic, social or political reason it should be reversed, I am more than open to considering it.

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