The Dáil formed after the next general election will have as many as 20 fewer TDs than the current House, Minister for Environment Phil Hogan has said.
Mr Hogan said the Cabinet yesterday approved his proposal to change the terms of the reference of the Constituency Commission to give it a mandate to provide for a reduced number of TDs.
Mr Hogan said that following a case in 2007 taken by Finian McGrath and Catherine Murphy, both of whom are Independent TDs, there was a requirement on the commission to be established once the preliminary results of last month’s census were published. That will happen in June.
Mr Hogan said the commission will be asked to review the number of TDs, currently 166, and be given a range of reductions. It will be chaired by a High Court judge and its findings will be binding on the Government.
He said the commission will report to the Government within three months after the final Census report is published next year. He said the changes would take effect for the next Dáil, which will be formed in 2016, if the Government continues for the full five-year term.
Mr Hogan said the actual bands the commission would be asked to work within have not been decided yet.
Asked about the commitment in the Fine Gael manifesto to reduce the numbers from 166 to 146, he said the programme for government had given a commitment for a reduction but had not specified the number.
“The commission will get an opportunity to work within a band of maximum and minimum. Last time it was between 164 and 168 and they worked on 166,” he said. “It will be within the tolerance level of the Constitution. We will not be having a constitutional referendum.”
Mr Hogan also announced two other elements of electoral reform. He said the Government willintroduce a six-month time limit for holding Dáil byelections. He said this change, to be contained in an Electoral Amendment Bill, was in response to the “farcical” situation that developed in the last Dáil where three byelections were delayed for many months.
“The farcical situation where political parties are forced to take High Court challenges to ensure byelections are held should never be repeated. To this end, the Government will introduce legislation which will guarantee all byelections are held within six months of a vacancy arising. This will ensure that all citizens are fully represented in the Dáil and prevent cynical political tactics which we saw last year.”
The other change will result in an almost 50 per cent reduction in the spending limit by candidates in the presidential election, with the limit falling from €1.3 million to €750,000. It also reduces the amount candidates will be reimbursed if they achieve a certain percentage vote from €260,000 to €200,000.
Mr Hogan also confirmed that the referendum on the abolition of the Seanad will not take place until the second half of 2012. He said the proposal to abolish the Upper House will now come under the remit of the Constitutional Convention, which will be established in the coming months and will be given 12 months to complete its deliberations.
He also said that a Bill to ban corporate donations and to lower donation limits should be enacted before the Dáil’s summer recess, resulting in the new ban being in place in advance of the presidential election campaign.
Mr Hogan said the decision to lower the spending limits for the campaign reflected the reality of the “more frugal times” Ireland is living in.
