Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are talking about the electoral reform Bill. The County Limerick constituency was always a three-seater. For many decades it elected two Fianna Fáil Deputies and one Fine Gael Deputy, or two Fine Gael Deputies and one Fianna Fáil Deputy, until we broke the record and now it is one Fianna Fáil Deputy, one Fine Gael Deputy and one Independent Deputy. I believe I am the first Independent to be elected in County Limerick. When Limerick city and county were together in the early 1900s, there was an Independent elected but they only lasted 90 days. If I am not the first elected, I am definitely the longest-serving Independent elected for County Limerick.

Looking at the statistics from 2016, there were 194,899 people in County Limerick. The census has shown that the population in County Limerick has grown by only 8%. What is that a failure of? It is a failure of the Government to look at infrastructure in our areas in order to allow people - our sons, daughters, brothers and sisters - to come back to Limerick to live. Compared to all the other counties across Ireland, Limerick has had the lowest increase in population. The average age in 2022 was 39.3. Going back to 2016, it was 37.

For an electoral reform Bill, I cannot understand why an average of 30,000 people per Deputy is the rate to have an elected Member. Across in England it is 90,000. Why do we want extra Deputies elected to the Dáil if in other countries it has been shown that members can cater for up to 90,000 people and still do the job? We have it at 30,000 here.

I understand it is an old law, but the law needs to change fairly quickly to ensure that taxpayers get value for money and that we can deliver a better service for people in our areas by investing in additional staff. Why do we need more Deputies? We have 166 and the people of the country say that many of those do not work for them. The next election will show that people want real people, not career politicians, to represent them. The Dáil as it stands does not represent all of Ireland. It represents a view of a Cabinet that is too city based. The Cabinet does not reflect all of Ireland, nor every county in Ireland. That is what the Opposition does in this Chamber. We fight as much as we can to make sure our counties are looked after, but we come up against a Cabinet that has lost touch with the reality of the people who once voted them in. It is changing. The only reason it is changing is the city-based Cabinet.

Where did the old Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael members come from? Does that reflect where the leaders of these parties first came from? It does not. The sooner we look at this and say we need to represent more people and we need fewer Deputies - we do not need more Deputies - the better. We need Deputies who will work for the counties that elected them and for the country as a whole and we need for decisions not to be made by a Cabinet that is out of touch with reality.

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