Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Again, I agree with the points raised by the Deputy and I thank her for the constructive engagement. The research programme, as I have said, will be very broad. It is as broad as the input that comes in from members of the public and political parties. We would most certainly welcome any proposals on the size of Dáil constituencies, the fixed number of constituencies and there is limitless potential here for research with the commission. Earlier today, I gave a commitment that we would send a note back out on the concerns potential new candidates might have over having their postal addresses on ballot papers. We will also give some feedback in that regard.

Amendment No. 5 proposes to insert a new section 5 to require An Coimisiún Toghcháin to undertake detailed research, within a period of two years from the enactment of the Bill, on the abolition of three-seat constituencies and on a system which has a fixed-size, a fixed number of constituencies, with the number of members to be elected for each constituency to be changed from time to time to be aligned with the changes in the distribution of the population throughout the State.

At the outset, I should say that I am supportive of independent and objective research being carried out to strengthen, promote and enhance Ireland's democracy and our electoral process. That is why we established An Coimisiún Toghcháin and assigned it a very specific function to carry out research on electoral matters.

While I accept that the amendment is well-intentioned, I do not propose to accept it for similar reasons I gave in respect of amendment No. 3. As already noted, An Coimisiún Toghcháin has published the draft research programme and is currently holding public consultation to ascertain the views of all interested parties on its research proposals. The House might wish to note that An Coimisiún Toghcháin has already signalled in its recent draft research programme that it intends to carry out research into the issue of representation and the manner in which the overall number of TDs is determined in the context of the rising population and the current constitutional and legal provisions in this area, as well as research on constituency magnitude, including the merits of constituencies larger than five seats.

I know that Ms Justice Baker has already made that commitment around this research piece so I believe that that is to be welcomed.

Accordingly, and in light of the fact that An Coimisiún Toghcháin is already committed to undertaking research into the future size of Dáil Éireann and the possible future make up of Dáil constituencies I do not believe it necessary to legislate for these particular items of research to be provided for in this Bill.

In particular, the discontinuance of the use of former rural districts. The rural district designation was abolished a hundred years ago in 1925 and it seems anomalous to us that we are still, in 2023 legislation, in section 1 of this Bill, referring to former rural districts rather than simply discontinuing their use and updating the language and the terminology.

Again, we are seeking to be constructive. I had a discussion with the Minister, Deputy Ryan, on Committee Stage on the research programme for An Coimisiún Toghcháin and I hope, whether this amendment passes or not, that the commission will undertake research and make recommendations on the particular issues which we have identified here.

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