I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
The main purpose of this Bill is to implement the recommendations in the report of the independent Constituency Commission published in October 2007 on revisions to Dáil and European Parliament constituencies. In addition, the Bill amends the law relating to the constituency revision process and provides for the introduction of alternative procedures for the nomination of non-party candidates at European Parliament and local elections.
Parts 2 and 3 of the Bill provide for implementation of the recommendations of the Constituency Commission's report on Dáil and European Parliament constituencies. In considering these parts of the Bill, it might be helpful for Members if I outline the principal constitutional and legal requirements in these matters.
Article 16.2.3° of the Constitution provides that "The ratio between the number of members to be elected at any time for each constituency and the population of each constituency, as ascertained at the last preceding census, shall, so far as it is practicable, be the same throughout the country." This provision was considered by the courts in two cases in 1961 — the High Court case of John O'Donovan versus the Attorney General, and the Supreme Court reference case relating to the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 1961. It was again considered in a High Court case last year taken by Deputies McGrath and Murphy where it was argued that the constituencies on which the general election was being fought did not comply with the constitutional requirement contained in that Article. In none of these cases did the courts quantify the precise degree of equality of representation required by the Constitution.
Examples of significant disparities in terms of population to seat ratio, which exist at present based on census 2006, include: 21% above the national average in Dublin West; 18% above the national average in Dublin North; 14% above the national average in Meath East; and 10% below the national average in Dún Laoghaire.
Article 16.2.4° of the Constitution provides that "The Oireachtas shall revise the constituencies at least once in every twelve years, with due regard to changes in distribution of the population". This, in effect, requires that the constituencies be revised whenever population changes, as shown in a census, lead to population to Deputy ratios in individual constituencies that are significantly out of line with the national average. That is the case at present and the Oireachtas must respond accordingly.
Section 5 of the Electoral Act 1997 provides that on publication of the relevant CSO report on a census, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government must set up a commission to report on Dáil and European constituencies. The terms of reference of the commission are specified in the Act, which are, of course, subordinate to the relevant constitutional provisions.
As Deputies will be aware, for more than half a century after the founding of the State, changes in constituencies were formulated and advanced by the Government of the day. The first Constituency Commission was established in 1977 to report on constituencies for the direct elections to the European Parliament in 1979. The first Dáil Constituency Commission was established in 1980 on a non-statutory basis and such commissions continued to report on constituency revisions until the enactment of the Electoral Act 1997. The commission which reported in October 2007 is the third statutory commission established under the Act.
Volume 1 of the 2006 census reports was published in April 2007. This showed an increase in total population from 2002 of more than 322,000, giving a total 2006 population in the State of 4.24 million. In 2006, therefore, each of the 166 Deputies represented an average of 25,541 persons.
As I indicated, the detailed population figures for each constituency showed there were serious variances from the national average population per Deputy in a number of constituencies. Nineteen constituencies had variances from national average representation in excess of 5% and 11 had deviations in excess of 8%. The most under-represented constituencies were Dublin West and Dublin North with variances of +21% and +18% respectively. The most over-represented constituencies were Dún Laoghaire and Cork North-Central with variances of -10% each. Clearly, significant changes have become necessary in some areas to secure equality of representation between constituencies based on the 2006 census.
In accordance with section 5 of the 1997 Act, a Constituency Commission was established in April 2007, chaired by Mr. Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill. The other members of the commission were Mr. Kieran Coughlan, Clerk of the Dáil, Ms Deirdre Lane, Clerk of the Seanad, Ms Geraldine Tallon, Secretary General of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Ms Emily O'Reilly, the Ombudsman. I thank the commission members for the conscientious and impartial manner in which they carried out their work.
The main features of the Constituency Commission's report in relation to Dáil constituencies are as follows. First, there is to be no change in the current level of Dáil membership, that is, 166 seats. Second, the total number of constituencies is to remain at 43 and no change should be made in 19 constituencies. Third, the Louth and Dublin West constituencies are to increase by one seat and changes are to be made in the areas covered by the constituencies. Fourth, the Dún Laoghaire and Limerick East constituencies are to be reduced by one seat, with the latter constituency to be renamed as Limerick City, and there are to be changes in the areas covered by the constituencies. Fifth, the area and name of two constituencies, Kerry North and Limerick West, should be amended to Kerry North-West Limerick and Limerick, respectively. Finally, changes, many of them small, should be made to the area of 18 other constituencies.
The main features of the Constituency Commission's report in relation to European Parliament constituencies are, in the context of 12 Irish members of the Parliament, a reduction of a seat in the Dublin constituency and the transfer of the population of counties Longford and Westmeath from the East to the North-West constituency.
The Government has accepted the Constituency Commission's recommendations as a single package of interlinked measures bringing Dáil and European Parliament constituencies into line with prevailing population patterns, in accordance with constitutional imperatives and other legal requirements. We all recognise that it may have been possible for the Constituency Commission to suggest solutions other than those recommended in the report and I appreciate fully the concerns that arise, including those relating to breaches of county boundaries. However, the commission has completed its work in accordance with its statutory terms of reference and its independent determination of the issues should now be respected. By cherry-picking individual recommendations, we would undermine the reasons for establishing an independent commission in the first place. It is the Government's firm view that the precedent of adhering to the Constituency Commission's advice should be followed.
Part 4 of the Bill revises the procedures to be followed by Constituency Commissions. In terms of the form of this element of the Bill, I decided that in view of the importance of these procedures, the amendments should be made by way of repeal and re-enactment with amendment of the full part of the Electoral Act 1997 dealing with the constituency revision process. In this way, Members, in considering the Bill and other subsequent Bills, will be able to see in one place the full text of the law relating to a Constituency Commission.
As regards substance, most of the existing law in this area is being retained. The main change is that future commissions will be established on publication by the Central Statistics Office, following a census of population, of the census report setting out the preliminary result of the census in respect of the total population of the State. In addition, a commission will have to report as soon as may be after publication by the CSO of the census report setting out the final result of the census in respect of the total population of the State, in any event not later than three months after such publication. Previously, commissions had to await final results before starting work and then had six months to complete their task.
This change responds fully to the High Court judgment in the Murphy and McGrath case in June 2007 in which the court concluded that, having regard to the constitutional requirements and high quality of CSO preliminary population data, consideration should be given to initiation of constituency revisions on publication of the CSO preliminary report on a census, with the revision work being completed when the final data are available. This is an important new provision and I hope it will be welcomed on all sides.
I am also taking the opportunity to update and improve the consultation processes followed by a Constituency Commission in the course of its work. The Bill requires a commission to allow at least three months for the making of submissions to it. At present, a commission has discretion as to the length of time allowed and this is inevitably influenced by the six months' time limit on a commission to produce its report. With future commissions commencing work on the basis of preliminary data, greater time can be now made available for consultation with interested organisations and individuals. I have made specific provision for this in the Bill to ensure a fuller opportunity for political and wider public input to the revision process.
The Bill also expressly provides that background information statements prepared by the Constituency Commission are to be made available free of charge. Previous provision that fees had to be paid to obtain copies of submissions made to a commission has been replaced by a requirement that they also are to be made available free of charge. A requirement in the existing law regarding physical inspection of submissions at specified times and places has been revised to allow the commission to decide on the detailed arrangements for making these publicly available. In this way, best use can be made, for example, of the Internet to give people access to submissions.
Taken together, these are significant and worthwhile improvements to the consultation processes followed by Constituency Commissions during the course of their work. However, the essential features of commission procedures which have operated effectively over many years are retained.
This Part also updates both fines provisions in sections 14 and 15 of the 1997 Act and references in the law to specific offices and other legislation which have changed in the decade since the Act came into operation.
The final elements of the Bill, Parts 5 and 6, provide alternative procedures for nomination of non-party candidates at European Parliament and local elections. The need for alternative procedures for nomination of such candidates arises from a judgment of the Supreme Court in November 2006 in the cases of King, Cooney and Riordan v. the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the Attorney General and others.
The judgment in question deals with the assentor requirements for the nomination of Dáil candidates who are not members of registered political parties. In particular, the court upheld the main requirement for obtaining assentors to help ensure the proper regulation of elections but struck down the provision requiring personal attendance by all assentors at a single location in a constituency on the basis that it can involve excessive demands on the time of such assentors. The court found that the provision is disproportionate to the objective to be achieved, namely, the due authentication of nomination papers, and declared the relevant section of the Electoral Act 1992 to be unconstitutional.
The implications of the Supreme Court judgment were dealt with by the enactment of the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2007. Due, however, to the limited time then available and the urgent need for enactment and implementation before the 2007 general election, the text of the Act provided for alternative nomination procedures — deposits or assents — for non-party candidates at Dáil elections only. Corresponding procedures for European Parliament and local elections are now required in advance of the elections next year and are included in the Bill on that basis. The procedures proposed follow those enacted in 2007 in respect of Dáil elections.
Parts 5 and 6 provide for two alternative mechanisms to regulate the nomination of candidates at European Parliament and local elections who are not in possession of certificates of political affiliation. These are: by way of assents, requiring the completion of statutory declarations — 60 in the case of European Parliament elections and 15 in respect of local elections — by assentors in the constituency or local electoral area, as appropriate, which may be witnessed by a commissioner for oaths, a peace commissioner, a notary public, a garda or a local authority official; or by way of the candidate, or someone on his or her behalf, lodging a deposit with the returning officer — €1,800 for European Parliament elections, €100 in the case of the election of members of a county or city council or €50 in the case of any other local election.
The nomination procedures for candidates not in possession of certificates of political affiliation standing at European Parliament and local elections are being brought into line with the procedures in place for such candidates at Dáil elections. This alignment of the nomination procedure represents a necessary improvement on the previous arrangements and fully meets the relevant constitutional requirements.
Part 6 makes the required amendments to nomination procedures by way of substituting new articles in the local election regulations. Since the publication of the Bill, I have been advised by the Attorney General that, consistent with developments in the law relating to the use of primary and secondary legislation, it is desirable to supplement these proposed regulations with corresponding principles and policies in the parent primary legislation — in this instance, the Local Government Act 2001. I will, therefore, be bringing forward a limited number of amendments on Committee Stage for this purpose. It is important to emphasise that these additions to the Bill will not change the substance of the new nomination procedures at local elections and are designed solely to give fuller legal effect to the proposals already contained in the Bill.
Members will recall that when I made a statement regarding the Constituency Commission report in the House on 28 May last, I stressed the importance of maintaining the long-established practice of implementing the recommendations of constituency commissions in full. The Bill before the House does this. The Government and I believe that this is the correct approach. The Bill also brings forward significant and worthwhile improvements to the processes followed by constituency commissions in their work, as well as putting in place measures to facilitate the holding of the upcoming European and local elections.
I commend the Bill to the House.
