Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise an issue I raised previously regarding the need for the Minister with responsibility for local government to outline his proposals to review the local government boundaries in light of the upcoming local elections in 2019. The review of local government boundaries is an issue we have discussed and it has been on the agenda since the previous report in 2013. That report unfortunately initiated a change in boundaries resulting in some constituencies increasing to ten seats, which has had a major knock on effect on local government. None of us in this Chamber or in public life realistically sees the advantage in constituencies increasing to ten seats, given what that can mean in geographical terms with local electoral constituencies in, for example, south Kerry or west Cork stretching to 110 to 120 miles. It does not make sense. A review of the criteria in terms of the geographical nature of these constituencies is important.

We have seen that local government is the heart of Ireland and local government is about knowing one's local representatives. If a person lives in a constituency that stretches to 100 miles, the chances of him or her knowing the local representatives or the representatives knowing that person are very limited.

That criteria used for local government reviews needs to be examined. Traditionally, we have used a system of district electoral divisions, DEDs. It does not make sense to use criteria that are more than 100 years old and up to 120 years old. These mapping districts need to be reviewed. Ireland has moved on. It does not make sense that we as a progressive State would return to boundaries that were set more than 100 years ago.

I will give an example of the unbelievable way in which constituencies have been divided. The town of Carrigaline in Cork, with a population of more than 15,000 people and a river flowing through the centre of it, was divided between two electoral districts. One half of the town became part of the Ballincollig-Carrigaline area, which became a ten-seat constituency, and other half became part of the Kinsale-Bandon area, which became a five-seat constituency. It does not make sene to divide towns on the basis of those electoral districts. Electoral districts need to be inclusive in nature and an electoral area needs to include both halves of a town such as Carrigaline and its hinterland to promote better local government. Unfortunately, if we fall back to using these old maps and do not move on from maps that are more than 100 years old, we will not move on when it comes to representation of local government. The report relating to current boundaries was published on 30 May 2013. This did not give public representatives, the public and executives in local authorities enough time to prepare for a local election that was held 12 months later. There is an anomaly in the system. The European election boundaries have already been set for 2019. The MEPs know their constituencies. They know exactly where they are running and the public knows the constituencies as they are laid out in law. They were laid out on 27 June 2017 but the process of laying out new local election boundaries has not even commenced. This is a major problem for the executives, the public and the councillors who want to serve these people. There are 918 councillors who are waiting for a local government review of the boundaries and for the Minister to press the button and set the criteria. There are many things at stake. Criteria are very important. We have seen how bad criteria have led to bad decisions. We need appropriate criteria and an appropriate timescale. I look forward to the Minister of State's response because we need to address this issue. The public needs local government and at the moment, the word "local" is missing in these very large constituencies.