Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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160. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the reason at a time when throughout the country there will be reductions in town councillors, Dublin County has an increase proposed of 50 plus councillors in the Dublin area; if he will explain this anomaly; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20621/13]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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161. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the reason it is necessary to increase the number of councillors in the Dublin area by up to 50 seats at a time when all town councils are being abolished; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20622/13]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos.160 and 161 together.

I announced the establishment of an independent Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee on 15 November 2012 to carry out a review of local electoral areas. An objective in this context is to achieve a better balance and consistency in representation ratios and, having regard to the terms of reference for the review, logically, there is a strong case for reducing the degree of representational imbalance currently in the Dublin authorities. The terms of reference specify, therefore, that the number of members for Dublin City shall be fixed at 63 and for every other area, including the Dublin counties, shall be subject to a minimum of 18 members and, other than for Cork County, a maximum of 40.

The Action Programme for Effective Local Government - Putting People First sets out Government decisions for a range of measures in relation to local government reform, including a decision to replace town councils with a new comprehensive model of municipal governance based around principal towns to strengthen local government within counties and address weaknesses and anomalies in the current system.