Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

They will. There is no such thing as counties in the Constitution so the terms of reference were laid down in line with what the Constituency Commission created.

There are always swings and roundabouts. Senator Barrett said that there will be a much heavier diminution of representation for the Border areas. He presumes that the three Deputies I named who represent Sligo-North Leitrim will then unrepresent them, so to speak. It all boils down to population so the distribution of votes will always be difficult, particularly when the number of Deputies is reduced. An increase in the number of Deputies would solve a lot more problems. In this case it was always going to be difficult to avoid breaching county boundaries, particularly when changing to the new national average of 29,040 people per representative. On the next occasion Senator Barrett can make a submission to the commission to address some of the issues regarding the Border counties about which he feels strongly.