Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. I regret any reduction in the number of Deputies because when we were trying to resolve the problems of the country between 2008 and 2010, reducing the number of backbenchers would not have made any difference. We have much bigger problems of lobbying, the control of banks and so on. I would not have added to the democratic deficit but I accept what the Minister is doing.

In this section, the total reduction of Deputies is eight out of 166, or 4.8%. However, in Ulster, the parts for which we have responsibility, two of the 11 Deputies will go. There will be five Deputies for Donegal rather than six and four for Cavan-Monaghan rather than five. That is an 18% hit so the way the commission did its work was nearly four times more damaging to the three Ulster counties than it was to the country as a whole. I appreciate what the Minister said about its neutrality and independence but the fact Ulster did particularly badly this time might be borne in mind the next time. The way the cookie crumbled was bad for Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan, but that is how it worked out.

The province of Ulster had the fastest increase in population in the last intercensal period. The population of the three Ulster counties went up by 10.1%, in Connacht by 7.5%, Munster by 6% and in Leinster by 9%. It is strange that the province with the fastest increase in population lost, proportionately, the most Deputies. That is a pity as the Parliament should reflect the population movements. The burden fell unduly on those three counties.