FINE GAEL’S official submission to the body redrawing constituency boundaries recommends a modest reduction in Dáil seats despite its election manifesto pledge to reduce the number of TDs from 166 to 146.
Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan said on a number of occasions before and after the general election that he wanted the Dáil to be reduced by 20 seats and the pledge was contained in the Fine Gael manifesto.
However, the preliminary results of the census last summer indicated an unanticipated population increase, and with a constitutional requirement of a ratio of one TD per 30,000 population, that scale of reduction was not possible.
Instead, the Minister asked the Constituency Commission to redraw the constituencies to provide for a Dáil that would have between 153 and 160 deputies, or a maximum reduction of 13 seats.
In its submission to the commission, signed by general secretary Tom Curran, Fine Gael recommends a reduction of only eight deputies from the current complement rather than the 12 or 13 that might have been possible.
The party argues that opting for a figure at the lower end of the scale – 153 or 154 TDs – may be too close to the constitutional limits and might be prone to a court challenge if the population increases.
It also contends that the lower the number of TDs, the more the potential for breaching county boundaries in the revised constituencies. On that basis, Fine Gael argues for a conservative reduction to 158 seats, near the top of the allowable range of 160.
The breaching of county boundaries, and the splitting of towns and suburbs into two constituencies, form the basis of the majority of the 360 submissions received by the commission, which is chaired by High Court judge Mr Justice John Cooke.
More than 150 of the submissions have been received from residents in Swords, Co Dublin, aggrieved at the decision by the last commission to move the River Valley area of the town from Dublin North into Dublin West.
Dublin West TD and Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar is among those who have argued that the whole of Swords should belong to one constituency.
Residents of Terenure West and TDs from Dublin South East have also mounted a campaign to have the suburb transferred into that constituency from Dublin South Central, on the basis that Terenure village should not be split, and the area has more affinity to Rathmines than Crumlin or Kimmage.
One submission from the Association of Residents in Terenure argues that Dublin South Central is not sufficiently middle class.
Similarly, dozens of submissions have been received from south Offaly, which had some 4,000 households moved into Tipperary North, and Leitrim, which was split in two by an earlier decision.
