Vol. 492 No. 3
37 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government when the next local government elections will be held; the steps, if any, he will take in advance of those elections to address the huge disparity between the councillor to elector ratio in parts of Dublin and in other parts of the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13777/98]
The next local elections will be held on Friday, 11 June 1999.
In February 1998 I established two boundary committees to review electoral areas in local authorities in the Dublin area and in local authorities outside Dublin. The boundary committees are required to issue their reports not later than 1 July next. The terms of reference of the committees require that each committee ensure a reasonable relationship between the 1996 population figures and representation within each local authority.
There are no constitutional or statutory requirements relating to equality of representation between local authorities. Each local authority operates within its own administrative area and the main priority is that the relevant council has sufficient members to carry out its functions effectively.
