Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I suggest that if we are asking citizens to accept cuts, some should take place in the Dáil and Seanad. While we cannot reduce the number of Senators without a referendum, Article 16 of the Constitution states there should be not less than one Deputy for every 30,000 in the population and not more than one Deputy for every 20,000 in the population. These can be fixed by law and not the Constitution. Over the years we have always gone for the largest number of Deputies. I have not been able to work out the sums but if we decided to have a number of Deputies closer to one for every 30,000 people rather than 20,000, there would be a dramatic reduction in the number of Deputies. I suggest that is something we should consider in these Houses immediately. I am sure the Government would approve such a move to reduce the number of Deputies.