asked the Minister for the Environment to what extent the views of local authorities, in relation to submissions to the Electoral Boundaries Commission will be taken into account, if the division of districts with eight or more members is essential as it is not the wish of the members or not in the best interests of local government for the area; the function that an urban county councillor would have if his/her ED was equivalent to the borough area already served by a corporation etc.; if this would not create a superfluous tier of local government; and if the function of a county councillor is not to serve the interests of all sections of the community rather than vested interests such as rural versus urban.
Written Answers. - Electoral Area Boundaries.
418.
The County and County Borough Electoral Area Boundaries Commission was established principally to revise the representation on county councils and county borough councils outside Dublin, with a view to ensuring a reasonable relationship between population and representation within each local authority. The criteria given to the commission include a requirement that they should recommend sub-division of any electoral area having eight or more councillors. In setting this requirement, the Government took the view that it is undesirable to have electoral areas with so many seats and so many candidates that the electoral choices to be made by voters are unduly complex.
Boroughs and urban districts, although they have local authorities of their own, are part of the administrative county in which they are situated and electors resident in those areas are entitled to vote at the election of members to the county council. No change is being made in this respect. The county council is responsible for certain functions in such urban areas — for example, for main roads and, usually, for fire brigade services. The presence on the county council of members from electoral areas which comprise of, or include, urban areas, should contribute to co-operation in planning and development and in relation to services generally. The terms of reference of the commission do not, however, require that the boundaries of county electoral areas should be made coterminous with the boundaries of boroughs or urban districts.
I understand that the commission, in carrying out its task, invited written submissions from local authorities, public representatives, political parties and the public generally. It is a matter for the commission, within the terms of reference, to decide the extent to which submissions made should influence their recommendations.