Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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I am disappointed that the Minister is not present to clarify the situation, which I raised this morning on the Order of Business. I pointed out that the figures he had outlined in the Bill published this morning were unconstitutional. The figure of 152 Deputies, which the legislation would allow, would be unconstitutional in light of the preliminary census figures published by the Central Statistics Office. The Minister has since admitted his error and is now talking about a minimum number of 153 Deputies. I am surprised the Minister did not wait and publish the Bill when the CSO figures had been published. He would then have got his figures right.

According to the preliminary census figures, the current ratio of TDs to population is 1:27,598. The Constitution provides for a ratio of between 1:20,000 and 1:30,000. The ratio for the 2007 election following the 2006 census was 1:25,541. We are representing more people than we did following the 2007 election. The total number of Members has been 166 since the 1981 election when 1,213,052 fewer people lived in the State. Following that election there was one TD for every 20,290 people in the country. Our representative duties have increased significantly.

The Electoral Acts 2007 and 2009 provided that the constituency commission would set the number of TDs within a range of 164 to 168. This time the Minister proposes in his Bill to give the new commission a range of 152 to 160. That gives the commission massive leeway. The limit on the number of TDs is supposed to be set by law, not by an external body to whom the function is delegated. I have my doubts about that aspect of the legislation. We do not know that the commission will opt for the upper end of the range. The Minister is giving the commission a great deal of leeway and he is coming close to the line because if the number of Members is set at 153, he will come close to breaching the constitutional ratio of 1:30,000. The census website highlights that between 2009 and 2010 the population increased by 20,000. Our population is increasing annually and if the Minister presses ahead with this legislation and the number of TDs is set at 153 for the next election, it could quickly become unconstitutional.

He needs to think this through because he is doing this for the wrong reasons. He is talking about political reform but reducing the number of TDs will mean fewer Members to hold the Government accountable or to represent the people, which will diminish our democracy. At the same time, he proposes to get rid of the Seanad, the safety net we have under our bicameral system. He will cut the Seanad and the number of TDs, which will mean less accountability and less democracy. That is not political reform. He has not thought this through and he is diminishing our democracy. He needs to go back to the drawing board. What is the updated position?

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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I thank the Deputy on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government for raising the issue. She has an interest in this and she has expertise in the area, on which I compliment her.

The Minister published the Electoral (Amendment) Bill earlier and it contains three important electoral reforms. It amends the terms of reference of a constituency commission in section 6(2)(a) of the Electoral Act 1997 by providing that the number of members of the Dáil, subject to the relevant provisions of the Constitution, shall be not less than 152 and not more than 160. It provides for an amendment to be made to section 39(2) of the Electoral Act 1992 to provide that the writ for a Dáil by-election shall be issued within six months of the vacancy occurring and it provides for amendments to the Electoral Act 1997 to provide for a reduction in the spending limit at a presidential election from €1.3 million to €750,000 and for a reduction in the maximum amount that can be reimbursed to a candidate at a presidential election from €260,000 to €200,000.

While the provisions in the Bill will alter the terms of reference of a constituency commission, the overriding constitutional provisions relating to the number of Members of the Dáil and equality of representation will remain unchanged. Article 16.2.2o of the Constitution provides that Dáil representation "shall not be fixed at less than one member for each thirty thousand of the population, or at more than one member for each twenty thousand of the population." Article 16.2.3o of the Constitution provides that, "The ratio between the number of members to be elected at any time for each constituency and the population of each constituency, as ascertained at the last preceding census, shall, so far as it is practicable, be the same throughout the country."

The CSO published preliminary results from the 2011 census earlier and the results show an increase in the population to more than 4.5 million. In applying the constitutional provisions to this new population figure, the minimum number of TDs that can be recommended by a constituency commission, subject to enactment of the Bill by the Oireachtas, will be 153, while the maximum number will be 160.

A number of commitments are made in the programme for Government in the electoral reform area. These include significantly reducing the size of the Oireachtas and reducing the number of TDs following the publication of the 2011 census of population. The proposals in the Bill regarding the terms of reference of a constituency commission respond to this commitment. The Minister is required by law to establish a constituency commission to review Dáil and European Parliament constituencies upon the publication of preliminary census results by the CSO. This legal obligation on the Minister presents an opportunity to ensure the reduction in the number of Members of the Dáil can have effect as early as possible. The Minister indicated earlier that he will set in train the establishment of a constituency commission, which will report within three months of publication of the final census results, due in March 2012.