Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for outlining the background and context to this legislation. It may be a small Bill, but as far as the people of County Leitrim are concerned, it is probably one of the most significant pieces of legislation to come through the Houses to have a direct impact on the future representation of the county, so long as the proposals contained in the constituency revision prevail.

I have come to the conclusion that it is really the fault of the GAA and not the fault of the Government or the commission. When the English conceived the concept of counties — under the policy of divide and conquer — it was to split up the traditional fiefdoms. In my part of the country, and I am sure other Members have similar experiences of folk memories in theirs, the traditional lands of Breffni Ó Raghallaigh and Breffni O'Rourke, which extended from Donegal to Meath, were split. As a former Senator from the county, Patrick O'Reilly, said during a debate in this House, County Leitrim as it is currently constituted is a geographical monstrosity because, like other counties, it was carved out with political reasons in mind.

Political considerations continued to dominate the debates on constituency revisions after this country achieved self-government. The 1961 revision split County Leitrim for the first time. The 1969 Boland revisions, quite bizarrely, created three new constituencies from the entrails of County Leitrim. The figures from that time are interesting. Some 11,000 people in County Leitrim were allocated to the Roscommon-Leitrim constituency, a further 11,000 people were allocated to the Sligo-Leitrim constituency and 8,000 people were allocated to County Donegal. I do not doubt that a direct political gerrymander was carried out in 1969 by the then Minister for Local Government, Kevin Boland. That decision was compounded some years later by the famous gerrymander that was carried out by the then Minister for Local Government, James Tully. It became known as the "Tullymander".

The people of County Leitrim had bitter experiences when boundaries were revised in the 1960s and 1970s. Most people welcomed the Government's decision in the late 1970s to establish an independent commission as an attempt to address an injustice that had been done. The commission, which operated within its terms of reference, restored County Leitrim as a political unit, for the first time in 20 years, in 1981. The county has been served almost exclusively by Deputy Ellis, of Fianna Fáil, since then. It has also been served intermittently by the former Deputy and Senator, Mr. Gerry Reynolds, who is now a member of Leitrim County Council. I congratulate my friend, Councillor Reynolds, on his recent election as cathaoirleach of Comhairle Contae Liatroma. I wish him well in his term of office.

In the short amount of time available to me, I examined quickly the speech of the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, in which he pointed out that the existing Sligo-Leitrim constituency has a variation of 11.01% from the national average. It is rather interesting that the other constituency that is so highly over-represented is not a rural constituency. I refer to the existing Dublin North-West constituency, which is in the heart of Dublin city. It has an even greater variation of 11.89% from the national average. The Minister of State also referred to the terms of reference of the Constituency Commission. He mentioned that section 6 of the 1997 Act provides that "the breaching of county boundaries shall be avoided as far as practicable" and that "each constituency shall be composed of contiguous areas".

The impact of the proposed changes on County Leitrim is not just a matter of political representation. I said earlier that the foundation of the GAA is to blame for the consolidation of county identity, based on the boundaries which had been introduced by the English, in the hearts and the minds of Irish people in the last 100 years. A strong form of county identity, which was not as evident before 1884, is now implacably and permanently located deep in the psyche of the Irish people. The natural boundaries found in the north west mean that the boundary of County Leitrim is a geographical nonsense. One has to pass through County Cavan or County Roscommon to travel from north Leitrim to south Leitrim. One also needs to avoid Lough Allen, which is a natural geographical boundary that divides County Leitrim.

The factors I have mentioned have combined over generations to create a sense of isolation among those in either half of the county. People in the northern half of County Leitrim refer proudly to themselves as being from "north Leitrim", rather than County Leitrim. As a person who lives in Drumshanbo, in the centre of the county, I have to say that I do not have great empathy with such a description. I am not alone in railing against it. One will never hear people from the southern part of the county referring to themselves as being from "south Leitrim". One must consider the historical aspects of this matter. Farming and sporting organisations, such as the GAA, have attempted over a long period of time to rebuild the natural division in the hearts and minds of the people of County Leitrim, who should see themselves as being from a unitary administrative entity.

An interesting decision was taken by the Government some years after this country achieved its independence. The constituency of Sligo-Leitrim, which existed in the immediate post-colonial period, was abolished in 1937 when the Government decided that County Leitrim should stand alone as a constituency. Three Members were returned for the constituency of Leitrim in each of the 1937, 1938 and 1943 general elections. The constituency of Sligo-Leitrim, which exists to this day, was not reintroduced until the general election of 1948.

It is gratifying that the Minister of State's speech contained more references to the revisions being made to the Sligo-Leitrim constituency under this Bill than to the changes being made elsewhere in the country. I am grateful for his decision to devote a significant portion of his contribution to the impact of the proposal on County Leitrim. I am aware that there is a great deal of concern about this matter at all levels, from the Taoiseach down. I am glad that there has been a due acknowledgement of the depth of feeling in my native county about this matter.

I have to say I would vote against this Bill if I were not a member of the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party and if I were not taking the Whip. That is how strongly I feel about the proposal to divide County Leitrim for electoral purposes, which is an abomination. As some of my predecessors as a representative of the county in this House and the other House have said during previous debates on electoral matters, it is essentially a political rape of my own county.

I cannot act like King Canute by imagining that I can stand on the strand and try to roll back the waves. This country's entire political establishment is in favour of the proposals contained in the Bill. In their submissions to the electoral commission, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael proposed that the recommendation that County Leitrim be split in two, which is now contained in the Bill, should be accepted as a means of addressing the imbalance in the national average. I know the battle lines have long since been drawn. Not only would I find myself on the losing side if I were to try to reverse the decision that has been taken, but I would suffer a crushing defeat. I hope the Leitrim football team does not suffer such a defeat when it plays Meath next Sunday.

I would like to repeat, in as strong and unobjective a manner as I can, that I am bringing emotion and passion to this debate. Such emotion and passion have blinded many people to the statistical reality that the population of County Leitrim did not and does not allow the continuation of the status quo in the form of the Sligo-Leitrim constituency. I believe that a better way of making the necessary changes could have been found, but it was not explored. I welcome the comments of other Senators, who have said that the terms of reference of the electoral commission should be seriously examined before the next constituency commission is undertaken.

I will end on a positive note. Statistical evidence that has been given to the members of Leitrim County Council over the last two weeks indicates that the population of County Leitrim is increasing inexorably. It appears that the current population of the county is 28,000, which is 3,000 more than the figure in the last census. We await the results of next year's census with great interest. I hope I will still be a Member of the House when it considers the next constituency revision Bill. I am convinced that such a Bill will be introduced within a short period of time. At that time, we will be in a position to restore Leitrim to its natural status as a single entity and thereby guarantee that it can return a Member to the Dáil.