Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

On the one hand, we do not favour the dual mandate at national and local authority level, yet we favour the derogation for practical purposes. Only two countries secured a derogation — Ireland and the UK — with specific reference to Northern Ireland. This would not have been necessary had the intentions of two sitting members of the European Parliament, Dr. Paisley and Mr. Hume, been known. They are not seeking re-election. Like Senator Bradford, I am sure I speak for all Members of the House when I pay tribute to the current members of the European Parliament who are not seeking re-election. I thank them for the major contribution they have made since 1979, in some cases, and 1984. Having worked with them over the years, I appreciate their commitment and dedication to their positions within the European Parliament.

The contentious issue of the arrangement of constituencies has been alluded to by Senators Bradford, Daly, Mooney and Mansergh. They made thoughtful contributions on the issue of framing European constituencies. The law under the Electoral Act 1973 requires the commission to provide for three, four and five seat constituencies. That Act would have to be changed to provide for one or two seat constituencies or for a list system. It may well be that Ireland's representation at the European Parliament will be reduced to 12. I expect this will happen as I hope that Bulgaria and Romania will be admitted to the European Union prior to 2009. While we may seem to have a difficulty today with the size and naming of the constituencies, the independent commission will have a more crucial role to play when reviewing the constituencies prior to 2009.

If the constituency of Connacht-Ulster could have been left as it was without the addition of County Clare, it might have become a two-seat constituency and part of Galway could have been included with Munster to make a four-seat constituency. However, the Electoral Act 1997 states that there should be reasonable equality of representation and that each constituency should return three, four or five representatives. In the intervening period the Department will have an opportunity to consider another system, which I hope will receive cross-party support.

Based on my experience in Europe and having listened to Senator Mansergh, I would not favour a list system, in which the headquarters decides on the individual representatives. This could lead to no connection between the Members and their constituencies. As already mentioned, the North-West constituency will stretch from Loop Head to Malin Head, under the list system the whole country would be covered. Those of us who have been elected at any level realise the importance of the relationship with our constituents. If we had two six-seat, six two-seat or 12 single seat constituencies, it might make sense. While I would not favour a list system for the entire country, it might be beneficial to the smaller parties. With 13 seats, the quota would be approximately 7%. While this could be beneficial, it is a debate for another day.

The naming of the constituencies seems to be quite contentious. Senator Kitt suggested calling the proposed North-West constituency, the Clare-Connacht-Ulster constituency to retain the provincial title. There would be a difficulty in putting the county of Clare on the same level as the provinces of Connacht and Ulster. Retaining the provincial name in the constituency title would pose a problem for the proposed new South constituency. Would it be possible to rename it Munster minus Clare?