Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was going to raise the mapping of boundaries in section 17 or 28. Who, in God's name, was involved in mapping the boundaries? The usual protocol for mapping was to consider the electoral divisions, EDs, but if they were not good enough one would use townlands. None of those protocols was used. A townland in Moneygourney, County Cork has been divided between two local authorities - a city authority and a county authority. Two residents of the townland will now be members of the county authority but the rest of the inhabitants will be members of the city authority. The same applies to the entire county of Cork regarding the city boundary itself. The usual protocols were not adhered to. The Minister of State is a political nerd like myself so he knows how these elections are run and that the usual protocol is to use electoral districts. l realise that the electoral divisions date back to 1841. There was probably a better way of doing this work but it is not dividing townlands. Is dividing townlands in two the new way of doing things? We have a register that must be sorted by 15 February. As many as 2,000 people in the hinterland of Moneygourney do not know whether they are residents of the city or the county because the usual protocols were not used. To me, such a situation is a mistake and is inappropriate. I can list townlands located in the north, south, east and west that have been divided by this boundary.

The Minister of State knows local government as he has been a councillor. He knows how these elections are ran and he knows the dividing areas. It is an unusual if not a bizarre and unique event that now we are tearing up townlands regarding the city and county divide. I am not going to talk about large areas because that would be inappropriate now. However, protocols should have been used that ensured the franchise was easier for people to understand.