Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

I made this point previously, as has the Minister, Deputy Gormley, when he quoted the High Court judgment of Mr. Justice Budd. The judgment argued that although a system in the main based on counties has been adopted, there is nothing in the Constitution about constituencies based on counties. The Constitution does not provide for the formation of constituencies as far as practicable having regard to county boundaries and according to the required ratio. That argument is on page 146 of the High Court judgment and it is the point I made at the beginning. The Minister, Deputy Gormley, also argued that the Constitution does not state that constituencies should be based on counties. We all have different views on the matter.

Last week the Minister published a detailed report on the establishment of an electoral commission in Ireland. The report was produced by a team in UCD. It refers to issues such as the registration of political parties, the electoral register, constituency revision — the matter under discussion today — running elections and referenda, funding, and research and awareness activities. The Minister, Deputy Gormley, stated that the electoral system belongs to all of us. He is determined to take forward change in this area on a consensual basis. For that reason he will invite interested organisations and individuals to provide their views on the important issues raised in the report. In this way there will be a firm basis for the implementation of the changes signalled in the programme for Government. Formal invitations will issue to interested parties shortly and the deadline for sending views to the Minister will be 26 June. That is a very welcome announcement from the Minister on the establishment of an electoral commission and it allows some time to deal with such issues as constituency revision.

I have made some points dealing with the direction in which we intend to move with the report. The Government decision is to accept the report in its entirety.