Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the definition and interpretation of "constituency", provision is made for a voter to choose a constituency. We may not get another opportunity to say this, but no provision is made for people to change their choice subsequently. While I believe we should have a "panel" rather than a "constituency", no provision is made in the Bill for a move to another constituency. It is conceivable that some panels, or "constituencies" as they are labelled in the Bill, would have significantly more voters relative to others and the respective number of seats. It seems eminently possible that this could arise, but there is inadequate provision made in the Bill to deal with such an outcome Therefore, the interpretation of "constituency", as it stands, is inadequate.

On the issue of having a gender sub-panel, I agree that there should be a 50:50 gender balance policy for a panel, but the difficulty is how we would achieve it. Providing for a specific electoral outcome for women may be legally problematic. This issue has not been tested.