Vol. 399 No. 5
5 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for the Environment the reason he has not complied with the statutory obligation imposed by Section 12 of the European Assemblies Elections Act, 1977; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Section 12 of the European Assembly Elections Act, 1977 requires the Minister to present to the Oireachtas proposals for the revision of the European constituencies within the period of 12 years from the enactment of that statute and at least once in every 12 years thereafter.
Having regard to the fact that representatives to the Parliament were elected for the existing constituencies for a period of five years from June 1989 and that, in the normal course, a census of population is due to be taken in 1991, it has been decided to propose an amendment to section 12 which will require a revision of European constituencies to be carried out after the next census and before the next European elections. The proposal will be contained in an Electoral Bill which I hope to introduce shortly.
