Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Very briefly, arís casfaidh mé ar an mBunreacht. Níor léigh mé amach Airteagal 15.4.2°:

2° I gcás aon dlí dá n-achtóidh an tOireachtas a bheith ar aon chuma in aghaidh an Bhunreachta seo nó in aghaidh aon fhorála den Bhunreacht seo beidh sé gan bhail sa mhéid go mbeidh sé in aghaidh an Bhunreachta seo agus sa mhéid sin amháin.

2° Every law enacted by the Oireachtas which is in any respect repugnant to this Constitution or to any provision thereof, shall, but to the extent only of such repugnancy, be invalid.

Tá an Aire ag triail rud a dhéanamh atá invalid. D'úsáid sé an leithscéal maidir leis an daonra - that is, the excuse that we have an increased population. I do not think that stands up, because if we look at 1924 we had 4.23 million. In 1977, when the first change came from seven to ten - if we take it that permanent secretaries were, in fact, junior ministers, we had dropped down to 3.282 million. There was not a reduction; in fact there was an increase. Then again, in 1980 when it increased by another five, we were still well below the 1926 population - 3.413 million. Even in 1995, we had not reached the 4.23 million. In 2007 we were only just reaching slightly above the 1926 level but in that year we had 20 ministers of State. The increase in population has absolutely nothing to do with it and it should not be used as an excuse to try to cover the Government in this case.

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