Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to the House. This side of the Chamber embraces the principle of an independent electoral commission. As the Minister said, the commission is composed of eminent and suitably qualified people. I thank the members of the commission for their diligent work. It is not an easy task to represent the people by reviewing, redrawing and planning electoral boundaries. Those of us who are old enough can remember the Tullymander of 1977 which was meant to insulate the coalition Government, and what happened afterwards. Since the 1980s we have had an independent commission, which is welcome. However, I have a difficulty with the fact that the commission receives a ministerial order concerning the type of constituencies — whether they should be four or five-seat constituencies. I refer to the commission that changed the boundaries for the local elections, with specific reference to the city of Cork. That did a complete disservice to the north side of Cork city by moving seats from the north to the south side. The cynic in me would say that by taking six and seven-seat constituencies, the commission has favoured some of the smaller parties, the Minister's included, which normally win the last seat in some Cork constituencies. That move was wrong and has done a disservice to local government. I hope people will recognise that in the June local elections.

The Minister referred to various changes to the commission. I hope the commission will take to the road and meet people at town hall meetings to get their views. The system is a bit off-putting for ordinary citizens who may not be well versed in making submissions to Departments. They have the right to do so, as outlined in the commission's advertisements at appropriate times, but the commission should hold public meetings to hear their views.

As the Minister knows, there has been a proposal this week to reduce the voting age for local elections to 16 years. I am not necessarily sold on the idea of reducing the age to 16, although I am open to a debate it. Perhaps the commission could use third level institutions and transition year modules to elicit students' views. It is important to hear public opinion because people can feel excluded despite the good will of the commission.

Anomalies undoubtedly occur in the composition of electoral districts and constituencies. The people of Leitrim rightly feel aggrieved in this respect. Senator Ellis has eloquently put the case for that county, as has the former Deputy, Gerry Reynolds. By the same token, some of the changes made by the commission in some counties do not make sense. They do not take cognisance of the recommendation to examine natural county boundaries. In the case of Cork, the Minister has left my constituency alone but he has changed Cork North-Central to a four-seat constituency. Meanwhile, part of Cork East has been moved into Cork North-Central. I had hoped Cork would be re-examined in an imaginative way. The current composition of Cork constituencies has, by and large, been the same since the 1980s. It needs to be changed.

I am intrigued that this week the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy Cullen, said there will be no sports capital programme this year, yet the local elections will be held in June. Meanwhile, the Minister, Deputy Gormley, has done a complete U-turn on what he said last weekend. On national radio he waved the flag. I support him regarding spending limits for elections, which is the best thing we could ever do. Today, however, he has retreated on that.