Results 10,381-10,400 of 14,706 for speaker:Phil Hogan

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: I suppose that Senator Wilson started from a basis that 13,000 people in Cavan will not be represented at all.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: They will be well represented between now and the next election with the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, Deputy Mac Lochlainn and Deputy Colreavy. I am sure they will be happy to look after the people whom Senator Wilson has looked after so well in Cavan, and the same applies to the people in Donegal.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: They will. There is no such thing as counties in the Constitution so the terms of reference were laid down in line with what the Constituency Commission created. There are always swings and roundabouts. Senator Barrett said that there will be a much heavier diminution of representation for the Border areas. He presumes that the three Deputies I named who represent Sligo-North Leitrim will...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: I cannot do much about the naming of constituencies. As I said in the other House, if I changed the name of a constituency, it would be deemed that I had interfered with the independence of the commission and the right of its learned people. The commission panel comprises very independent people. If I change the name of a constituency, a Senator could also say that I had interfered with...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: Is the Senator prescribing the outcome? He is very arrogant.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: They were the last time.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: There are three years to prepare.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: The Senator should try to be consistent.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: The Sinn Féin Party is trying to gerrymander local government in the North.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: Gerrymandering.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: It is true. Sinn Féin has held it up for ages.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: Threats again.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: I am sorry the Senator is inconvenienced.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: I have answered already.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: The proposed reduction of the Members of the Dáil by 20 members was not included in the programme for Government, while the proposal to abolish Seanad Éireann is. That is the reason.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: The Senator will have to ask the Taoiseach and Tánaiste to reflect on that on the third anniversary of the Government next year. That would be the appropriate time. That is the reason why, however. If there was no change in the proportion of the electorate to Members, as we have now, we would have 170 Members in the Dáil on the next occasion. We have gone to the limit of what we are...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: That is assuming that the Senator's assumption is right.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: I can understand that, for some reasons, Members would like to have that reflected in the name of the constituency to demonstrate that they have more empathy for the constituency they will be in the future. We had a considerable population movement from Meath into Louth on the last occasion - twice as much as Mayo South going into Galway - and it did not change the name. It is still Louth....

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: I respect the people who have been involved in these constituency revisions over the years, which are laid down in law. We have moved away from some of the problems we had in the 1960s and 1970s on all sides of the House, concerning boundaries being predicated in advance. There was no such thing as an independent Electoral Commission then and they were drawn up by the Department and...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: I hope they will be around, but I will not.