Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

Section 5 states:

A constituency specified in the Schedule shall return the number of members set out in respect thereof in the third column of that Schedule.

There has been much debate about constituency boundaries but we are familiar with the buzz words 'balanced regional development' in the national spatial strategy and other reports planning Ireland's progress. The emphasis in other EU countries, however, is on regional governance. In Ireland the model is central government feeding down to the local authorities and constituencies. I was a chairperson of a regional authority and know that while authorities do good work on policies they do not have the necessary teeth or funding and legislative backing to properly promote balanced regional development.

Four Deputies represent my area, Waterford, which includes one of the national gateway cities identified in the national spatial strategy. A total of 18 Deputies represent Waterford and the other constituencies covered by the regional authority area, Tipperary South, Wexford and Carlow-Kilkenny. My colleague, Senator Buttimer, rightly mentioned his disappointment that Cork lost a representative in the second last commission. A total of 19 Deputies, however, represent Cork city and county alone while 47 Deputies represent Dublin city and the greater Dublin area. By comparison the representatives from the country punch above their weight here. No Government programme involving capital spending, whether the national development plan or other, involves proper balanced regional development because the regions are inadequately represented. I understand that the commission operates within its terms of reference and bases its recommendations on population but this is a small country and geography and regional development should be considered seriously. Government policy and plans refer to balanced regional development but do not recognise that in the number of representatives from the regions. I am not saying that we should have as many Deputies in Waterford and the south east as there are in Dublin where the population is big. Taking proper regional development into consideration, however, we need to consider the numbers of representatives in the regions and address that issue properly and fairly.

Senator Ellis spoke about rural versus the urban areas. People feel disenfranchised and under-represented and need to know their representatives and to have a voice in the Parliament. Balanced regional development needs to be backed up by adequate, fully supported representation in the constituencies. The hard facts are that Waterford and the south east have 18 Deputies, Dublin has 47 while Cork city and county have 19, which compares with the number for the whole south-east region.

I support Senator Hannigan's comments about the electoral commission. I too welcome the fact that the Minister is bringing this forward. The sooner he does so the better because all parties in the House have acknowledged that the registers are deplorably inaccurate.

I am a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Under our Chairman, Deputy Seán Fleming, we have examined other jurisdictions to determine how best the registers should be managed to ensure that we have an adequate and accurate electoral system. The rolling system is to be welcomed. I presume that the Minister has taken on board many of the committee's recommendations on the electoral commission because we have done a lot of ground work and have made good cross-party recommendations. I hope he will take most, if not all, of our views on board. That will benefit democracy and the electoral system in general.