This Bill proposes to fix the total number of Members of Dáil Éireann and to revise the constituencies for the election of Members to the Dáil.
The Constitution requires, that the number of Members of Dáil Éireann be fixed from time to time by law and that the Oireachtas shall revise the constituencies at least once in every 12 years with due regard to changes in the distribution of the population. The Bill is similar in form to the other Acts for revision of the constituencies which have been passed over the years but it differs from those other revisions in one important respect. The difference lies in the fact that, for the first time, the scheme of constituencies contained in the Schedule to the Bill has been drawn up by an independent commission. In setting up the Constituency Commission to advise on the formation of Dáil constituencies the Government were fulfilling the undertaking to that effect given before the last general election.
A detailed explanatory memorandum has been circulated with the Bill. A set of maps illustrating the proposed constituencies has been lodged in the Oireachtas Library and I have arranged to have a set of maps on a smaller scale provided for each Deputy and Senator. I do not think it is necessary for me, therefore, to comment in any detail on the provisions of the Bill.
As regards the sections of the Bill, these are similar in form to the corresponding sections of previous Acts for the revision of constituencies. The sections contain the standard provisions of a Bill of this kind, including a designation of the constituency for which the Ceann Comhairle may be returned unopposed at the next general election and the usual provisions for adaptation of the register of electors and for the treatment of split polling districts.
The most significant provision in the Bill is section 2 under which overall membership of the Dáil is fixed at 166, an increase of 18 on the present membership and two fewer than the maximum number permissible under the constitutional provisions on the basis of the 1979 census returns. The Government, in setting up the Constituency Commission, indicated in the terms of reference that the number of members to be provided for should be not less than 164 and not more than 168. In the event, the commission recommended an overall membership of 166 for the reason that that number best facilitated the formation of a county-based scheme of constituencies. While the total membership proposed is the largest since the foundation of the State and 18 more than that of the present Dáil, there is, I think, general agreement that the increase is fully justified by the increased population and by the heavy workload which is placed on Deputies in modern times.
As regards the Schedule to the Bill, which contains the details of the proposed constituencies, these are identical with those drawn up by the Constituency Commission. The Government's position is that the recommendations of the commission constitute a package which they have decided to accept and to recommend to the Oireachtas.
The scheme of constituencies proposed is largely a county-based one, involving only three breaches of county boundaries. I feel sure that Senators will regard this aspect of the proposed constituencies as particularly satisfactory.
I would like to draw the attention of the Seanad to the question of the variation in the population-Deputy ratio in the proposed constituencies. At each revision of constituencies since the High Court ruling in the O'Donovan case in 1961, the Budd judgment, the variation in the population-Deputy ratio from constituency to constituency was restricted to 1,000 persons, or about 5 per cent above or below the national average. In the scheme of constituencies now before the Seanad, the variation from the national average exceeds 5 per cent in the case of five constituencies. The variation ranges from +6.28 per cent in Carlow-Kilkenny to -6.42 per cent in Mayo East. Senators will find a discussion of this matter in chapter 3 of the commission's report. It will be noted that the commission came to the conclusion that there is no rigid tolerance level and that the test in every case must be the one referred to in the Supreme Court judgment in the case of the Electoral (Amendment) Bill, 1961, namely, whether "failure to maintain the ratio between the number of members for each constituency involves such a divergence as to make it clear that the Oireachtas has not carried out the intention (of the relevant part of the Constitution)".
In conclusion, I would like, on behalf of the Government, to place on the record of this House our appreciation of the manner in which the commission have performed their task. I am sure that Senators will wish to join with me in expressing thanks to the members of the Constituency Commission—to the chairman, Mr. Justice Walsh and to the other members, Mr. Healy, Clerk of the Dáil and Mr. Meagher, Secretary of my Department—for the thorough and expeditious manner in which they did their work.