Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Acting Chair. I will not use all of my time. I commend the work of the Electoral Commission. It is a matter of public record that Sinn Féin argued for six-seaters and to maintain county boundaries where possible but we think the Electoral Commission should be as independent as possible and I think it did a very good job.

As this Bill comes before us, I would like to raise one thing that was not in the terms of reference. The Irish language did not feature in the terms of reference for An Coimisiún Toghcháin and that should be rectified before the next report on constituency boundaries whenever they are revised. In any future redraw, constituencies should be named in the first official language of the State, particularly if we are committed to increasing and normalising use of an Ghaeilge in public life. Gaeltacht areas, in particular, are being effectively being Anglicised. We should be looking to put Gaeilge to the fore right across the country. In places like Wales, we see Welsh-only or at very least bilingual names for constituencies, while here English-only names are being created in law. We should be moving towards Gaeilge amháin where possible, and at least bilingual where necessary. Even if Irish-only names were used officially, that would not stop anyone using the English during the campaign if they wanted to. However, to comply with Article 8 of the Constitution, Irish should be accepted as the first official language. Now that this is on the record, I hope it is borne in mind for the future reports.