When the debate on amendment No. 8 and amendment No. 9 was adjourned last Thursday, I had pointed out that I assumed the Minister for Local Government was motivated by some particular reasons when he decided to reduce the constituency of Waterford from four to three seats and permit the constituency of South Tipperary to retain its four seats. I also said that I could visualise him adopting certain principles when endeavouring to come to his decision. I suggested to the House that one of the considerations he would think about when endeavouring to come to his decision was which of the two constituencies had the greater population; which place was nearer to the High Court ruling of 20,000 per Deputy. I pointed out that assuming he had already made up his mind to transfer a certain number to North Tipperary, if he examined the question, he would find the position somewhat like this, that Waterford at the 1956 census had 74,031 people registered as against 73,718 in South Tipperary, a majority of 313 in Waterford's favour.
As pointed out, that was not all of the story. You would have had to add to Waterford approximately 1,000 extra population because of the extension of the borough boundary which took place since the 1956 census. Then you would have had in round figures 75,000 population in Waterford constituency. In reverse, accepting the figures Deputy Mulcahy was kind enough to give to the House in connection with the transfer to North Tipperary from South Tipperary, I find the 73,718 of South Tipperary would have to be reduced by approximately 3,000 people, to drop to some 71,000.
The position existing at the time the Minister was making up his mind to deprive Waterford of one seat and to permit South Tipperary to retain that seat was that Waterford would have had, on a population basis, some 75,000 people, whereas South Tipperary would have had some 71,000, a difference of 4,000. I would assume that that must have weighed in some small way with the Minister in coming to his decision but he decided, in his wisdom, to override that fact.
There is a further fact. Population is the basis mentioned in deciding the ratio of Deputies to constituencies and the High Court decision was that population basis would be a deciding factor. But if you leave that aside and take it on the electorate, we find that the electorate in Waterford was 43,156 and in South Tipperary, it was only 41,196, a difference, in round figures, of approximately 2,000. Without any alteration in South Tipperary or Waterford, there were 2,000 more voters in Waterford than there were in South Tipperary. Then, again, the factor comes in of the transfer to North Tipperary of approximately 1,531, which I presume had already taken place in the Minister's mind. My figures are as quoted by Deputy Mulcahy in the House last Thursday and not contradicted by the Minister and I assume them to be correct. There was a transfer of 1,531 electors from South Tipperary to North Tipperary, leaving the figure for South Tipperary 39,666 electors.