Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I congratulate the Electoral Commission on its work and the news of the report as well as on the secrecy it maintained. While there were rumours, many of which were not accurate, we did not see comprehensive leaks in the newspapers, which is unusual. I suspected that there would be something at least in the Sunday papers in advance of the Monday or Tuesday morning - I do not remember which it was. Well done to the Commission on that.

I take this opportunity to thank the voters and members of Fine Gael in the area of south Mayo that is part of the Galway West constituency, where I was elected in 2016. I also thank them for their support in 2020. They indulged us because they were not happy - and I understand that - to be part of the Galway constituency. I remember canvassing at a house just over the border in Mayo. When I said I was canvassing I was asked where I was from. When I said I was from Galway, I was told I was in Mayo. I said I knew that but that it was part of the Galway West constituency. I was then asked about Michael Ring and explained that he was running in the Mayo constituency, to which the person responded "But this is Mayo". I acknowledge that there was a little confusion. They are back where they want to be, namely, in the Mayo constituency.

As part of our submission, we talked about the naming of constituencies. To have any inclusion, the names of counties should be included. Roscommon-Galway includes both names and there are other examples, such as Carlow-Kilkenny, which includes the full County Carlow in it. Why is the north-west part of the Minister of State's county, Kilkenny, not included in the new name for the Tipperary North constituency? If we are trying to encourage people to vote, they should at least be able recognise the name of the constituency. The commission is independent. The chair of the commission said on the radio that the name of the constituency would not exactly roll off the tongue. What does that matter? It makes no sense that we are encouraging people to vote and they are voting in Kilkenny in the constituency of Tipperary North. Similarly, in the case of south Donegal, what is wrong with the name Sligo-Leitrim-Donegal South? It might get more complicated if Roscommon were also included in it, but I do not see why the county names cannot be included. Perhaps it should be an absolute requirement, when the next boundary review comes around, that county names are included in constituency names.

The commission is independent. That does not mean we cannot criticise it or disagree with some of its recommendations. For example, I do not understand why Galway West will have a population of 30,059 per TD and Galway East will have 28,314 voters per TD. I wonder why that was not balanced to make it closer to 29,000 each. Why was the opportunity not taken by the commission to look at that? It is a simple thing that does not make sense because there is a higher variance of minus 4% in one and it is plus 1% in the other. I assumed that would be done.

It also strikes me that when a small bit is taken out of county and citizens, voters and political parties are not happy about it, they will immediately start a campaign for the next commission to reverse it. It will perhaps become obvious that it will be reversed if the mathematics allow. That reduces representation. If TDs know that the small bit of a county is likely to be removed from the constituency at the next election, they might be less likely to serve it. I would be concerned about that if small bits and pieces are being taken out. Perhaps six-seater constituencies would allow for some more discretion. The question is whether to stop at six seats. Why not have seven-seat constituencies? Perhaps six seats would be final and might make sense. I do not know, but I have concerns.

I am also concerned about some of the decisions made. When looking at the maps, I was immediately struck by the fact that the town of Mallow - but not its hinterland - was taken out of Cork. That would immediately impact on the sitting Labour Party TD in the area, who I texted at the time. I wonder whether it is fair to take a town but not the hinterland. It is the same with Enniscorthy. The line is just above it. The constituency should include either the northern or southern hinterland because the hinterland serves the town and vice versa. There is a connection between the two. If a line is drawn just above Enniscorthy, you are not getting fair representation. The commission looked at a number of issues. It has been said that it is all a question of maths and ratios and so forth, but there should be some recognition of the relationships between towns and their surrounding areas to give some chance. The urban areas of some towns have been moved into a constituency and their rural areas left out and shoved in with another area. Those are some of my points on this Bill. I respect the commission's independence, but in future some of the points I raised about names and relationships could be taken on board.