Stitching several counties into one Dáil constituency should be ‘abandoned permanently’

The Electoral Commission has been told that the approach of stitching together several counties into one Dáil constituency should be “abandoned permanently” in this summer’s review of boundaries.

Independent TD Marc MacSharry – a former Fianna Fáil deputy – made the call in a letter to the commission during the ongoing consultation period ahead of the review.

The commission will have until the end of August deliver its report on the review of Dáil and European Parliament constituencies once the final result of Census 2022 is published on May 30th.

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The Constitution says there must be one TD for every 20,000 to 30,000 people.

Currently, all but one of the 39 Dáil constituencies have more than 30,000 people per TD.

Under the terms of its deliberations, the commission can increase the number of TDs in the Dáil from the current 160 to between 171 and 181.

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Each constituency can have three, four or five TDs, and “the breaching of county boundaries shall be avoided as far as practicable”.

Many of the 22 submissions made to the commission by elected representatives and members of the public so far encourage it to take county boundaries into account.

Mr MacSharry describes the current four-seat Sligo-Leitrim constituency as “an absurd patchwork” highlighting how it also includes parts of south Donegal and north Roscommon.

He suggests the county boundaries of the four counties “must be respected and maintained at all costs” and the approach of “several counties being stitched together must be abandoned permanently”.

Mr MacSharry proposes the creation of four constituencies – two three-seaters in Donegal, a four seater comprising of all of Sligo and Leitrim, and a Roscommon-Longford constituency with four seats.

In his submission, Fine Gael TD Michael Ring wrote that he is “anxious” that a part of south Mayo should revert to the Mayo constituency.

He said the last constituency review saw a population of some 4,893 people in south Mayo included in Galway West and he sought the return of a number of areas, saying the county boundary should not be breached.

Fianna Fáil’s Senator Robbie Gallagher called for part of north Meath to be reunited with the rest of the county.

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The area is currently included in Cavan-Monaghan and Mr Gallagher argued that, due to population growth, those two counties alone should be a five-seater.

Fianna Fáil’s Senator Malcolm Byrne said the three five-seat constituencies of Carlow-Kilkenny, Wexford and Wicklow are all currently in breach of the 30,000 persons per TD limit.

He said that between Wicklow and Wexford there would be an entitlement to “almost exactly 11 seats... without a need to breach other county boundaries”.

He suggested that three constituencies could be formed – Wicklow North with four seats; Mid Leinster including south Wicklow and north Wexford with three seats; and a four-seat Wexford South.

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Gorey-based Mr Byrne won a Dáil byelection in Wexford in 2019 but lost the seat in the subsequent 2020 general election.

In Dublin, Fianna Fáil’s Councillor Darragh Butler said the borders of local authority areas there, including his own – Fingal County Council – “should be protected and aligned as much as possible” to Dáil constituencies, adding that this “ensures much more effective public representation”.

In previous instances where county boundaries have been breached there has been disappointment and a sense of detachment among communities involved

—  Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick, Association of Irish Local Government

Mr Butler wrote that “under no circumstances should towns such as Swords be divided”.

Swords was divided between the old Dublin North constituency and Dublin West for the 2011 general election before being reunited in the Dublin Fingal constituency for subsequent elections.

Mr Butler argued that the division of Swords in 2011 was “tantamount to gerrymandering” that had the effect of “drastically reducing” political representation in Fingal’s county town.

The Association of Irish Local Government urged the commission to place particular emphasis retaining county boundaries “as much as possible”.

Its president, Kilkenny’s Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick, wrote: “In previous instances where county boundaries have been breached there has been disappointment and a sense of detachment among communities involved which may well have affected turnouts at the subsequent elections.”

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Fianna Fáil’s Cllr Gearóid Murphy, proposes changes to the existing constituencies in Co Cork and increasing the number of seats from 18 to 20.

Under his proposals, Cork North-Central and Cork South-Central would both get an extra seat to become five-seaters. A smaller Cork East constituency would lose a seat to become a three-seater, a new Cork North constituency would have three seats and a new Cork West constituency would have four seats.

A submission from an individual called Tom Coughan asked why Ireland does not have constituencies of between six and nine seats, saying: “As far as I know this is allowed.”

He added: “We used to have such constituencies” and it would “save having to constantly change boundaries”.