Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to raise this matter on the Adjournment. I am disappointed that we are still here so late at two minutes past midnight. It is the wrong time to be doing business. Lessons should have been learned from what happened before that we should not sit so late.

The independent Boundary Commission published the Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee report at the end of May. We have, however, a real problem with the electoral division boundaries. The net effect of the boundary review in County Meath is that there are now six districts: Laytown-Bettystown, Ashbourne, Ratoath, Trim, Navan and Kells. The Ashbourne-Ratoath and Laytown-Bettystown boundaries are anomalous. As far as I can see from the maps, part of the village of Duleek, the Millrace estate, is in the Ashbourne area. It is in the townland of Bellewstown, which includes the road along the new lines of Duleek cemetery. Parts of the school road in Duleek are in the Ashbourne area. This is highly anomalous because there is a local authority headquarters in Duleek. It is a stone's throw from the Millrace estate to the local authority headquarters, but a large part of that estate will be in the Ashbourne area, so residents will not be able to deal with the nearby office.

I recall that there is a "Welcome to Duleek" sign in the Ashbourne electoral area, despite the fact that Duleek is the administrative headquarters for the Laytown-Bettystown area. That is anomalous.

The same applies to the townland of Baltransna, which is very much part of Ashbourne but is in the Ratoath electoral area. In fact, there is a "Welcome to Ashbourne" sign in the townland of Baltransna which is in the Ratoath electoral area, not in the Ashbourne electoral area. That is also an anomaly.

I will not blame the commission, which did respond to a submission from a political party and that was accepted. I think there is a problem with the district electoral division boundaries. I do not know when they were last reviewed or examined, but they are the building blocks of all boundary reviews, either for Dáil or local electoral areas. They do not reflect the towns involved. For example, the district electoral division boundaries go through the village of Duleek, rather than the village being in its own district electoral division. That may be a technical matter but I think the Minister of State gets the point. The bottom line is that the village of Duleek is partially split into two different electoral areas. In addition, part of Ashbourne is not in the Ashbourne electoral area. That situation is highly anomalous and the Government should re-examine it.