Letters

Electoral Commission and mission creep

Straying far beyond its mandate

Tue Sept 05 2023 - 00:12

Sir, – Stephen Collins says that, in its recent report, the Electoral Commission has given “a clear hint of its view that the time has come to put a cap on the number of TDs” (Opinion & Analysis, September 1st). With the greatest of respect to the members of the Electoral Commission, that is frankly none of their business.

The fact is that the people have stipulated in Article 16.2.3 of the Constitution that there should be at least one TD for every 30,000 of the population. Like it or not, this will continue to be the case until such time as that provision is amended, and it goes well beyond the remit of a statutory body such as the Electoral Commission to give any “hint” of its view on the matter.

In that context, I thought it was extraordinary for the chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Justice Marie Baker, to write in your newspaper last week that the commission proposes “to commence and guide a national conversation about whether the Dáil should continue to grow to match the increase in population” .

The functions of the Electoral Commission, bestowed on it by the Oireachtas in the Electoral Reform Act 2022, are to conduct research on electoral policy and procedure; to make recommendations to the government accordingly; and to promote public awareness of the democratic process and to encourage higher turnout at elections.

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It has absolutely no function which would allow it to “commence” or “guide” any public debate which might ultimately lead to a very significant amendment being made to our Constitution.

If that debate is to take place, it should be commenced and guided by elected politicians and political parties, not by an unelected statutory body.

It is very concerning that just six months after its establishment, the Electoral Commission has already signalled that it may be willing to go well beyond its mandate, with Stephen Collins and other commentators apparently willing to cheer them on. – Yours, etc,

BARRY WALSH,

Clontarf,

Dublin 3.

Sir, – The chair of the Electoral Commission, Ms Justice Marie Baker, has said the commission wants to guide a conversation with the public about whether the number of TDs should be capped (Opinion & Analysis, August 31st).

Isn’t it ironic that the Electoral Commission, as a newly established State quango, is suggesting caps to the numbers of public servants, albeit only the public servants that are elected and democratically accountable? – Yours, etc,

Cllr JOANNA TUFFY,

(Labour),

Lucan,

Co Dublin

Sir, – Might ChatGPT be used, instead of increasing the number of TDs? – Yours, etc,

KEITH NOLAN,

Carrick-on-Shannon,

Co Leitrim.

A chara, – We should have a referendum to increase the population to keep up with the increasing number of TDs. – Is mise,

LOMAN Ó LOINGSIGH,

Dublin 24.

Sir, – In these times of modern communication technologies, it seems a TD could represent a much larger number than 30,000 voters. It makes enormous sense to increase this to 40,000, which would reduce the number of TDs to approximately 130.

This would help to make the Dáil a much more efficient, effective and less expensive operation. – Yours, etc,

PATRICK McGARRY,

Blackrock,

Co Dublin.

Sir, – A letter writer (September 2nd) wonders whether the Dáil will be able to accommodate 174 TDs.

Since the Dáil chamber is pretty empty most of the time, I don’t think this will be an issue “going forward”, as they say. – Yours, etc,

TADHG McCARTHY,

Bray,

Co Wicklow.

Sir, – It is indicative of the kind of society we live in that the increase in population shown by the recent census leads to an energetic debate about how many new TDs we need, when there is currently no shortage of those in situ nor those seeking to replace them, and little or no debate about the demonstrable need for more hospitals, doctors, nurses and ancillary staff when we can neither build nor attract staff quickly enough. – Yours, etc,

KEVIN O’SULLIVAN,

Letterkenny,

Co Donegal.