We were debating group 2 which includes amendments Nos. 2, 13 and 16 dealing with the proposed constituencies of Cavan, Monaghan, Louth and Meath. We have already clearly established in our contributions to the debate that the way in which the Minister has allocated seats in this area is not the fairest or best way in which they could have been allocated. We have put forward as strongly as we can the argument that the counties of Cavan and Monaghan, being Border counties, should have been established as constituencies each in its own right; the Minister should have and could have established a constituency of Cavan electing three Deputies to this House. We have suggested in our amendments that the same could be done with County Monaghan; that county could have been established as a constituency in its own right by the inclusion of some transfers from adjoining areas thereby enabling that area to send three Deputies to this House.
We have argued in favour of that as against the Minister's proposal to establish one five-seat constituency covering the whole of Cavan and Monaghan. We believe the area is too vast; it will involve very, very long journeys because these counties sprawl right along more than two-thirds of the Border and there are very special problems. Because of the special problems of these two counties—we have argued fairly and our argument cannot be refuted— they should have been allowed to return the maximum number of Deputies here. The Minister and his Government have chosen to do otherwise and, doing otherwise, they have reduced the combined area of Cavan and Monaghan by one representative because only five seats have been allocated as against the present two three-seat constituencies. This is a retrograde step. No heed is paid to the special problems of the people residing in these areas. In these difficult times this is, indeed, a wrong decision. The Minister has decided on a five-seat constituency covering this vast area, an area which extends in a U along the Border and he has also decided the constituency of Meath shall be created returning four Deputies to this House. We do not agree that this should be done. The existing constituency returns three Deputies and we believe that situation should be maintained; Meath should return only three Deputies.
We agree with the proposal that a constituency of Louth should be created returning four Deputies, but we do not agree with the way in which this four-seat constituency is devised. If the Minister had accepted the principle put forward by us of establishing two three-seat constituencies, one in Cavan and one in Monaghan, then his proposals for the constituency of Louth would have to have been somewhat similar to our proposals. As the House knows, in making a five-seat constituency in Cavan-Monaghan, he conceded part of Monaghan to Louth. The argument has been put fairly adequately and I do not wish to detain the House, but the one thing which disappoints us is the fact that it can be shown that the Minister has given the greatest advantage from the point of view of ratio per population head in the number of Deputies to be elected to this particular area. We accept that the Minister may have had a personal or vested interest in the area and it is our obligation to highlight that fact here so that the House may know exactly what is going on. In the groupings the Minister has devised, with North Leinster including these counties in Ulster, the grouping of South Leinster and Munster, the grouping of the west, and the grouping of Dublin constituencies, the group which benefits most as a result of the Minister's interpretation and implementation of the Supreme Court decision from the point of view of tolerance range is the group in which the counties of Meath, Cavan, Monaghan and Louth appear. It will take less population per Deputy in these areas and that is discrimination against the other areas. It simply cannot be justified.
Very few arguments have been made during the course of the debate to justify these groupings. All we have had is confirmation of the Government's majority. That is apparently sufficient argument to justify what they are doing. It is the pattern they have chosen to follow. We will leave it to the judgment of the people as to whether they are acting in the best interests of the community in their allocation of seats. We deeply regret the manner in which seats are being distributed. We greatly regret that the counties of Cavan and Monaghan will no longer be separate constituencies. The Coalition Government have lumped them together and reduced their representation by one.