In 1973 or 1974, when I was Fianna Fáil front bench spokesman on Local Government, I participated in a very acrimonious debate on a very blatant attempt being proposed to gerrymander the constituencies in the form of a Bill which was brought forward by the Coalition Government at that time. I took very strong exception to the gerrymandering on the part of the Coalition Government and took steps to ensure that my party would adopt as a very firm policy a proposal that any revision of constituencies which might be required during the term of any future Fianna Fáil Government would be done by an independent electoral commission. I am very pleased that when my party succeeded in getting back into Government they implemented that commitment and the revisions which have taken place since then have been carried out by an independent electoral commission.
The adoption of that policy by Fianna Fáil at that time has resulted in this Bill passing through the House without the acrimonious debate which we had on that occasion to ensure that the blatant gerrymandering which was being attempted by the Government was being exposed. We had to go to great lengths to ensure that the country's attention was drawn to the measures which the Government were proposing. Subsequent events showed that the attempt was far too blatant and far too deliberate, so much so that the electorate revolted against that Government. There was a massive swing against them which decimated them in the subsequent election. Now that we have established that these decisions, sensitive though they may be to sitting Deputies, are to be undertaken by a group other than the Government of the day, Fianna Fáil can claim to have made a major contribution to developments in this area. We accept the recommendations of this commission, recognising that their terms of reference imposed a rigid inhibition on them in regard to whatever proposals they might make.
I express my thanks to the commission for the work they have done but in future revisions, the terms of reference should be such as to ensure that results will not bring about a situation where five-seat constituencies are comprised of very large rural areas. The composition of any future commission must include people with experience of rural Ireland, of the work of a rural Deputy and of the almost unbearable burden imposed on a Deputy in a five-seat rural constituency. There are now seven five-seat constituencies and these are largely in rural areas where Deputies in order to be faithful to their constituents must travel up to 150 miles at times. In my own constituency a return journey quite often involves travelling 160 miles because some parts of the constituency are up to 80 miles from my house. This is very difficult especially in a constituency which contains so many inhabited islands.
I am not making any special plea in my own case but I am merely emphasising one aspect to which future commissions should give serious consideration. I am not attaching any blame to the commission when I point to that serious flaw in the overall strategy. They acted within the terms of reference laid down for them but it is impractical to expect a Deputy to provide adequate service in a constituency which stretches for up to 100 miles apart in different areas. Any future commission must have regard to the difficulties encountered by a rural Deputy in a large constituency. They must have regard to the amount of time available to a Deputy who has to attend this House for three days out of seven, who must travel a long journey to be here and who, shortly after his long journey home, must set out on other long journeys in order to service his vast constituency. We are accepting the proposals of the commission on this occasion but whoever is laying down the terms of reference for any future commission must ensure that they are not forced to make recommendations that include five-seat constituencies in large, thinly-populated rural areas. Fianna Fáil have succeeded in removing the whole area of constituency revision from acrimony and heated debate. We may have arrived at the stage where we may consider a more broadly-based commission for the next occasion on which we are asking people to consider these matters and to make recommendations to the House.
