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

I thank the Senator for the opportunity to clarify issues regarding the recent report of the 2013 local electoral area boundary committee. The committee was established by me in November 2012 and produced its report on 30 May 2013. In publishing the report, I announced my intention to accept in full the recommendations therein and to make in due course the necessary local electoral area orders to give them effect. The local electoral areas specified in these orders, and the number of members to be elected for each area, will apply at the 2014 local elections.

The completion of the report was an important step in the Government's programme of local government reform. The review had a specific goal of improving balance and consistency in representational ratios in local government, while taking particular account of factors such as the location of towns in the new municipal governance arrangements provided for in the action programme for effective local government. The terms of reference provided for minimum levels of representation in lower-population counties and cities. Arising from the recommendations in the report, a total of 949 councillors will be elected at the 2014 elections, in 137 local electoral areas, to 31 local authorities.

Much of the commentary on the report has focused on the reduction in the number of council seats from 1,627 to 949 and the number of local authorities from 114 to 31. However, beyond these reductions is the development of a far more integrated approach between county and municipal government which will better serve the needs of all citizens. This radical structural reform will provide a sound platform for the wider development and strengthening of the local government system in the future. The current number of councillors in local authorities was set in the distant past. There have been huge changes in population in recent decades, as the Senator observed, which have resulted in great disparities in the ratios of councillors to population between different counties and indeed within counties. Whereas previous local electoral area reviews left the total number of members in each local authority unchanged, this review involves a fundamental reform of the system to take account of population changes and representational disparities.

The recommendations in the report stand as they are. I have accepted them in full, for Cork and for every other local authority area. As I said some months ago when we were debating the new arrangements for Dáil constituencies, there are swings and roundabouts in constituency reviews. In nearly every situation there are multiple options and a range of solutions. However, every change or move has a knock-on effect, with consequences for other parts of the country. The committee, in chapter 3 of its report, makes particular reference to issues arising with regard to the representational ratios in County Cork and recommends, in a later chapter, that eight local electoral areas be formed within the existing divisional boundaries that have operated for administrative purposes in the county.

Senator Cullinane has drawn our attention to local electoral areas in the southern division, where the committee is recommending a number of revisions. The committee explains that these recommendations provide a balance between recognising existing administrative arrangements and facilitating the creation of new local electoral areas which acknowledge the community identities of newer large urban and suburban areas.