Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is time politicians took on those elements of the media which have no understanding of the way in which the political system works. This is reflected in many of the comments made, particularly on radio and television. How many times have we all listened to so-called experts - the political commentariat - make the most dreadful of basic mistakes when they describe the workings of both Houses?

I have not focused too much on the Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan and Donegal region. Of course, however, as a person from County Leitrim, it is welcome that the county has been reunited politically because when I stood on the other side of the House, I had to vote in favour of its splitting. I said at the time that if I was on this side of the House, I would vote against it, but I did not want to lose the Whip. As I had been elected as a Fianna Fáil Senator, I had to take the good with the bad. Having said that, I feel for the people of west Cavan and south-west Donegal, mainly because they have been eliminated from the political landscape because the constituency will now be referred to as Sligo-Leitrim. There is no reference to west Cavan or south-west Donegal. I heard Senator Michael Comiskey speak about meeting community groups. I would not like to visit west Cavan or south-west Donegal because the people are rightly annoyed at what the proposal will mean for them.

There will have to be a great deal of bridge building to try to bring the four counties together to ensure they will elect four individuals who will be representative of the varying interests and the different cultures, geography, tribalist nature and so on in the counties. All of that must now be addressed by the people in the area where I live, and my colleague in Cavan.

It was a very bad day when the Constituency Commission came up with a proposal that has made it necessary, as a result of the reduction to 158 TDs, to opt for the constitutional maximum of almost 30,000 voters per TD. All it had to do to retain two three-seater constituencies in Donegal was to end up with a figure of 27,000. If it had left the five-seater in Cavan-Monaghan the figure would have been just under 27,000. For 2,000 voters, therefore, the people of the north west of Ireland across two provinces and the Border counties will now be disrupted politically to an extent that I believe will reflect badly on this Government, but we will wait to see what happens.