Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

The purpose of the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023 is to provide for the number of Members of Dáil Éireann, the revision of constituencies and the number of Members to be elected for such constituencies in light of the results of census 2022. In broad terms, the Bill provides for the total number of Members of Dáil Éireann to be 174 and for the number of constituencies to be 43 in accordance with the recommendations in the Constituency Review Report 2023 published by An Coimisiún Toghcháin on 30 August last. In debating and deciding upon this Bill, the Oireachtas will meet its constitutional obligation to review and revise constituencies with due regard to population change and its distribution across the country. To support the Oireachtas in this task, the Electoral Reform Act 2022 provided for the establishment of An Coimisiún Toghcháin and assigned it responsibility for, among other matters, the review of Dáil and European Parliament constituencies. Under Section 30(3) of the Electoral Reform Act 2022, An Coimisiún Toghcháin is independent in the performance of its functions.

An coimisiún's Constituency Review Report 2023 was published and laid before these Houses on 30 August. Since the report’s publication, the Government has given due consideration to the recommendations of an coimisiún and, in accordance with accepted practice since 1980, has agreed to implement them in full and without change.

The Bill before this House provides for this.

Our Constitution sets out clearly and distinctly the overarching requirements that apply to membership of the Dáil. In addition, and complementary to these constitutional provisions, chapter 7 of Part 2 of the Electoral Reform Act 2022 provides for a constituency review following each census of population and establishes, among other things, the terms of reference for such a review. The constitutional provisions require that Dáil constituencies be revised whenever population change, as ascertained in a census, leads to population-to-Member ratios in individual constituencies that are significantly out of line with the national average or the limits set in the Constitution of one Member to every 20,000 to 30,000 of population.

It has been six years since Dáil constituencies were last revised by way of the Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Act 2017, which gave legal effect to the recommendations of the 2017 report, which was, in turn, completed following census 2016. The results of census 2022 show a population increase of over 8% on the 2016 population, with population growth tending to be stronger in the eastern side of the country. Some 5,149,139 people are now resident in the Republic of Ireland, the highest the population has been for 171 years.

The population is such now that the ratio of Members to population, at just over 32,000, is outside the constitutional upper limit of one to 30,000. While this does not make the composition of the Thirty-third Dáil unconstitutional, since it was formed on the basis the 2016 census, there is now an imperative to legislate for revised Dáil constituencies to bring them into line with Article 16.2 of the Constitution.

These constitutional provisions were considered by the courts in two cases in 1961, namely the High Court case of John O'Donovan v.the Attorney General and the Supreme Court reference case relating to the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 1961. They were considered again in the High Court case taken by Deputies McGrath and Murphy in 2007, where it was argued that the constituencies on which the general election was fought at that time did not comply with the requirements in Article 16 of Bunreacht na hÉireann.

In his judgment of 2007 in the latter case, Mr. Justice Clarke stated that he was satisfied that there is an urgent burden on the Oireachtas to review constituencies following a census. In effect, he concluded that the Oireachtas must act promptly to bring constituencies in line with population once a census reveals significant population change. The progression of the proposed Bill will now allow the Oireachtas to so act on this occasion.

Chapter 7 of Part 2 of the Electoral Reform Act 2022 provides for the review of Dáil and European Parliament constituencies to be undertaken by An Coimisiún Toghcháin. Under these provisions, An Coimisiún’s report on the review of Dáil and European Parliament constituencies must be published within three months of the publication of final census results. The terms of reference of An Coimisiún are specified in the Act. These provisions are, of course, subordinate to the constitutional requirements set out in Article 16.2.

An Coimisiún Toghcháin was established on 9 February 2023. The programme for Government included a commitment to have a stand-alone electoral commission and, having regard to the provisions of the Act, it held a public consultation from 10 February 2023 to 10 May 2023. It received some 541 submissions on Dáil constituencies and a further 33 submissions on European Parliament constituencies. Final results for census 2022 were published on 30 May 2023 with An Coimisiún’s constituency report 2023 subsequently finalised and laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas on 30 August 2023.

By now I am sure all Members are familiar with its content and its recommendations. However, for the information of Deputies and for the record of the House, I will outline the main features of An Coimisiún's report in relation to Dáil constituencies. I imagine most Deputies in the House probably know them off by heart. The number of Dáil Members will increase by 14 to 174. This will give rise to the largest Dáil in the State’s history. There should be 43 constituencies, an increase of four, of which 15 will have five seats, 15 will have four seats and 13 will have three seats.

The constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny, less the electoral division, ED transferred to the new Tipperary North constituency, remains a five-seat constituency. The constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, less the ED transferred to Meath East, remains a five-seat constituency.

The constituency of Cork East, less the ED transferred to Cork North-Central and Cork North-West, remains a four-seat constituency. Cork North-Central, with the additional ED transferred from Cork North-West and Cork North-East and less the ED transferred to Cork South-Central and Cork North-West, is allocated one additional seat and becomes a five-seat constituency. The constituency of Cork North-West, with population transferred from Cork East and Cork North-Central, less the transfer of one ED to Cork North-Central, remains a three-seat constituency. Cork South-Central becomes a five-seat constituency.

The constituency of Dublin Bay North, with the addition of one ED from the current Dublin Fingal constituency, less the transfer of ED to the Dublin North-West constituency, remains a five-seat constituency. The constituency of Dublin Bay South, less one ED transferred to the Dublin South-Central constituency, remains a four-seat constituency. Dublin Fingal will be separated into two, a Dublin Fingal East constituency and a Dublin Fingal West constituency. The new constituency of Dublin Fingal East will have three-seats, as will Dublin Fingal West. The constituency of Dublin Mid-West, with an additional ED from Dublin South-West and part of an ED from Dublin South-Central, will be allocated an additional seat to become a five-seat constituency. The constituency of Dublin North-West, with additional ED transferred from Dublin Bay North, less parts of ED transferred to the Dublin West constituency and the new Dublin Fingal West constituency, remains a three-seat constituency. The constituency of Dublin South-Central, with an additional ED transferred from the Dublin Bay South constituency, less ED and parts of ED transferred to the Dublin South-West and Dublin Mid-West, remains a four-seat constituency. The constituency of Dublin South-West, with additional ED transferred from Dublin South Central, less one ED transferred to the Dublin Mid-West constituency, remains a five-seat constituency. The constituency of Dublin West, with parts of ED transferred from the Dublin North-West constituency, will be allocated an extra seat to become a five-seat constituency. The constituency of Dublin-Rathdown, with additional ED and part of one ED transferred from the constituency of Dún Laoghaire, will be allocated an additional seat to become a four-seat constituency. The constituency of Dún Laoghaire, less ED and part of one ED transferred to Dublin-Rathdown, remains a four-seat constituency.

Galway East, with additional ED from the Roscommon-Galway constituency, is allocated an extra seat to become a four-seat constituency. The constituency of Galway West, less ED transferred to the Mayo constituency, remains a five-seat constituency.

Kildare North, with the addition of ED transferred from the Kildare South constituency, is allocated an additional seat to become a five-seat constituency. The constituency of Kildare South, less ED transferred to Kildare North, as well as the new Laois and Offaly constituencies, remains a four-seat constituency.

The constituency of Laois-Offaly will be divided into two constituencies, the new Laois constituency and the new Offaly constituency. The new constituency of Laois, with the addition of ED transferred from the Kildare South constituency, will be a three-seat constituency comprising the entire county of Laois. The new Offaly constituency, with the addition of ED transferred from Kildare South, will be a new three-seat constituency comprising the entire county of Offaly.

The constituency of Limerick City, less County Tipperary ED transferred to a new Tipperary North constituency, remains a four-seat constituency.

The constituency of Longford-Westmeath, with the addition of ED transferred from the Meath West constituency, will be allocated an additional seat to become a five-seat constituency.

The constituency of Louth, less the transfer of one County Meath ED to the Meath East constituency, remains a five-seat constituency.

The constituency of Mayo, with the addition of ED transferred from Galway West, will be allocated an additional seat to become a five-seat constituency.

Meath East, with the addition of ED transferred from Cavan-Monaghan and Louth, is allocated an additional seat to become a four-seat constituency. Meath West, less the transfer of ED to the constituency of Longford-Westmeath, remains a three-seat constituency.

Roscommon-Galway, with the addition of ED transferred from Sligo-Leitrim and less ED transferred to the Galway East constituency, remains a three-seat constituency.

Sligo-Leitrim, less ED transferred to the constituency of Roscommon-Galway, remains a four-seat constituency.

The constituency of Tipperary will be divided to become two new constituencies, Tipperary North and Tipperary South. The new constituency of Tipperary North, with additional ED from the Limerick City constituency and the Carlow Kilkenny constituency, will be a three-seat constituency. The new constituency of Tipperary South will also be a three-seat constituency.

The constituency of Wexford, less the electoral districts transferred to the new Wicklow-Wexford constituency, will become a four-seater. The constituency of Wicklow, less the electoral districts transferred to the new Wicklow-Wexford constituency, will become a four-seat constituency. The new constituency of Wicklow-Wexford is a three-seater consisting of electoral districts transferred from the southern part of the constituency of Wicklow and the northern part of the constituency of Wexford.

The constituencies of Cork South-West and Limerick County, which are three-seat constituencies, Clare, Dublin Central and Waterford, which are four-seat constituencies, and Donegal and Kerry, which are five-seat constituencies, will remain unchanged. This is the full list of constituencies. Hopefully, I will never have to read it again.

In arriving at its recommendations, the commission had particular regard to the constitutional provision around equality of representation and the issue of variance that has been considered in the High Court and Supreme Court judgments I referenced. The report notes that the principles and guidance in those cases were carefully considered by the commission, which also obtained its own independent legal opinion on the matter. Against all of these factors, the Constituency Review Report 2023 notes that the commission decided to adopt a more flexible approach to variances, having regard to other competing factors such as minimising the breaching of county boundaries and retaining continuity insofar as practicable. In this regard, the commission allowed for a variance ranging from -8.13% to +8.08%, a total range of just over 16%, when this would allow either an existing breach of a county boundary to be removed or would avoid a new breach of a county boundary. Overall, the commission reported that it was satisfied, in light of the constitutional requirements and its terms of reference, that the recommended constituencies met the constitutional requirements from the point of view of equality of representation.

An Coimisiún Toghcháin has signalled that, in advance of the next census, it intends to commence and guide a "national conversation" on whether Dáil Éireann should continue to grow to match the increase in population, which currently requires an additional two Deputies per annum. It has also indicated that it proposes to examine the size of constituencies and whether the upper limit of five seats best meets our democratic needs.

The commission was required to report on the new European Parliament constituencies. In its report, it recommended maintaining the existing arrangement of constituencies for the election of our 13 Members to the European Parliament. Subsequent to that, however, the European Council decision of 22 September establishing the composition of the European Parliament was adopted. Among other matters, it provided for 14 Members to be elected to represent Ireland in the next European Parliament, or an increase of one seat. Against this background, An Coimisiún Toghcháin has commenced a further review of the European Parliament constituencies and has already held a public consultation to invite submissions from all interested parties. Its report is expected shortly. In any event, it has to be with us not later than 27 November. In light of the increase in Ireland’s representation in the next European Parliament and the recommendations that can be expected to emerge, I intend to table amendments to the Bill when An Coimisiún Toghcháin reports with its recommendations in respect of European Parliament constituencies.

I have outlined most of the main details of the Bill, but I will go through the provisions in the time remaining. Section 1 provides for the definition of particular references in the Schedule to the Bill. Section 2 provides that, once the Bill is passed, there will be 174 Members in the next Dáil, that being, the Dáil elected after the dissolution of the current Dáil. Section 3 provides for those 174 Members to represent the constituencies I set out and as specified in the Schedule. Section 4 provides that each constituency shall have the number of Members specified in respect of it in the Schedule. Section 5 provides for the repeal, on the dissolution of the Dáil that next occurs following the enactment of the Bill, of the Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Act 2017. Section 6 is a standard provision that provides for the Short Title and collective citation of the Bill.

The Bill continues the long-established practice of implementing the recommendations of independent constituency reviews in full and without amendment, which has been an important factor in supporting the independence of the review process. It is a matter for the Oireachtas to revise the constituencies and I look forward to the debate on the Bill.

I thank the commission’s members for the work they have undertaken and for the efficient and expeditious way in which they have gone about it. This is the first constituency boundary review conducted by a stand-alone independent commission established by the Oireachtas. That is the way forward. One of our firm commitments on electoral reform was to establish An Coimisiún Toghcháin. It has carried out its work. I thank its chairperson, Ms Justice Marie Baker, her team, the representatives on the commission, its chief executive, Mr. Art O’Leary, his team, and the appointees to the commission, who carried out their work well. I assure the House that the commission took seriously the submissions it received from the public and interested parties, including Deputies, prospective Deputies and public representatives throughout the country. Speaking as the line Minister, the commission carried out its work well and has done a particularly good job of striking a balance between maths and geography.

I look forward to the Second Stage debate. I expect to table an amendment in respect of the European Parliament constituencies at a later point once I have received the report from An Coimisiún Toghcháin.

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