Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Senator Lombard. My home parish of Inishcarra is divided in two with which I have no difficulty. I have a difficulty with the division of townlands.There is one stretch along the dividing line, approximately 500 yd. wide, that runs from Moyle between a road and a river. That road is the dividing line. The way it is done does not make sense. If there was a straight line along that 500 yd. stretch to the river, there would be a clear boundary. I do not understand why houses in some townlands were left in the county while others were brought into the city. I know we cannot go back over it because the map has been drawn up. If the entire townland had been left out, the number of properties affected and the number of additional voters brought in would have been extremely small. They would have been brought in to one area and left out of another area. Logic does not appear to have been used when the line was drawn. There are now parishes and areas in which very united communities have been divided. For example, Inishcarra has over 50 acres of sports facilities for GAA, camogie, rugby, soccer, pitch and putt and the community centre and now the organisers will have to deal with two local authorities when they want funding. We need to look more carefully at how we decide on boundaries. There are clear divisions in place yet now we are creating artificial divisions. That is what has occurred in this instance. There must be a better way of doing it.