Vol. 522 No. 4
27 Mr. Dukes asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government when he expects the next revision of Dáil constituency boundaries and local election constituency boundaries to take place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18561/00]
In relation to Dáil constituencies, section 5 of the Electoral Act, 1997, specifies that a constituency commission shall be established upon publication by the Central Statistics Office, following a census of population, of the census report setting out the population of the State classified by area. I established the first such statutory commission in 1997 and the next commission will be established following publication of census details after the next census of population which is due to be undertaken in 2001.
There are no similar mandatory requirements in relation to local electoral areas the review of which is a matter for the Minister for the Environment and Local Government. In February 1998, I established electoral area boundary committees to review and make recommendations on the division into local electoral areas of each county and county borough, outside Dublin, borough corporations and the urban districts of Bray, Dundalk and Tralee and to review electoral areas in respect of Dublin County Borough, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin County Councils. The reports and recommendations of both committees were accepted in full by the Government and the revised areas were used at the June 1999 local elections. The question of the need for a further review of local electoral areas will be considered following publication of the 2001 census.
