Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

I am in favour of it because it is most important. During his reign, the Minister might also look at the issue of spending between elections. In my humble opinion, that is a joke at the moment. There is nothing to stop a candidate spending thousands or hundreds of thousands of euro up to the day the election is called. When an election is called, however, we bring in a spending limit but it makes no sense. Democracy should not be about getting elected through spending money. Despite what people think of President Obama in America, if one looks at the amount of money he and the other candidates raised and spent, it is wrong. Democracy is being fixed at a price but it should not be that way. The Minister assured us that we will have spending limits, but I hope they will come into effect long before the elections so that we can have a meaningful debate on them. Many people are afraid that to become involved in politics and get elected to any office requires a big expenditure, but we should not exclude anybody from running for office.

The Minister referred to Mr. Justice Clarke's judgment, which makes for interesting reading. In the context of the next census — if this Government runs its course and stays in office — will we have a new review before us for 2012? If so, what will that present to us? Will we have the former Deputy, Gerry Reynolds, and Senator Ellis appearing on the plinth to talk about Leitrim and other parts of the country?

The commission took a minimalist approach the last time, but it missed an opportunity in doing so. Perhaps it is time for the Minister to re-examine Article 16.2 of the Constitution which refers to the ratio between the number of Deputies and the population of each constituency. Given the way in which the country's population has grown towards the east, there is a fear that Cork and other areas will lose representation.

I do not subscribe to the view that Ireland begins and ends at the Red Cow roundabout because people living in Kiltimagh, Bishopstown or Ballinamore deserve representation. I accept changes had to be made to the European Parliament constituency boundaries because of the reduction in the number of seats. However, natural boundaries have been changed for Dáil elections and I am worried that people will not be represented by Members from their area. The Schedule lists the townlands and boundaries, and the way some are fitted together does not make geographical sense and does not provide proper representation in a number of counties. West Limerick and north Kerry are close but the ethos of representation in the area has been changed, as is the case in Cork East and Cork North-Central.

Is the Minister willing to examine Article 16 and hold a constitutional referendum on the number of seats? We do not have too many Deputies and Senators but we need to ask whether the population is best served by the current number of politicians. This week the Government treated both Houses of the Oireachtas with disrespect by not engaging properly with Members on the economic framework document.

I had hoped the Minister would spell out in his contribution what he meant by introducing spending limits for local elections. The composition of the independent review group is a matter for him and I do not have a difficulty with the people on it because if the Minister appointed people associated with different political parties, he would be accused of gerrymandering, cronyism and so on. The composition of the group is fair.

The Bill has taken a long time to come to the House following the report in 2007. We have no difficulty with it in principle. I hope there will be meaningful reform of spending limits and that, in future, the Minister will desist from making recommendations regarding the number of seats in constituencies and leave it to the commission because it is important that it has a free hand in this regard. I also hope the practice of reducing representation in areas suffering from depopulation will cease. I understand the principle underpinning this approach, but it is wrong. We will not oppose the Bill but we will table amendments. I am pleased the Bill has been introduced but I hope the running of elections, the composition of the electoral commission and decisions on Dáil boundaries will be independent because that would best serve democracy.