The purpose of this Bill is to specify the total number of Members of the Dáil, to revise the constituencies for the election of Members to the Dáil and to prescribe the number of Members to be returned for each constituency.
In considering the Bill it is necessary to have regard to the provisions of Article 16.2 of the Constitution, in particular to the requirements that
(a) 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 through the country, and
(b) the Oireachtas shall revise the constituencies at least once in every twelve years with due regard to changes in distribution of population.
The constitutional provisions relating to the revision of Dáil constituencies came before the High Court and the Supreme Court in two well-known cases in the early sixties. The courts, however, did not lay down what variation from the national average number of persons per Deputy would be permissible in the formation of constituencies, nor did they indicate whether the Constitution requires equality of representation as between constituencies at all times or only at the time of a revision. There is, thus, a lack of authoritative guidance on these important questions.
The previous Dáil constituency revision took place in 1980 on the basis of the census of population taken in April 1979. When a further census taken in April 1981, disclosed shifts in population, particularly within the greater Dublin area, a revision of constituencies was put in train by the Government. An independent commission were appointed and given the same terms of reference as those given to the commission which drew up the 1980 proposals, with the addition that, given the short period of time which had elapsed since the last revision of constituencies, the commission should take account of the desirability of effecting the minimum changes. As Senators are aware, the commission's function was purely advisory. The Constitution places the obligation to revise the Dáil constituencies on the Oireachtas.
The commission's report recommended that there should be no change in the overall membership of the Dáil or in the allocation of seats to individual constituencies. As regards the definition of constituencies, no change is recommended apart from and there are only two in the entire scheme of the constituency boundaries for the country:
(i) the transfer of an area with a population of 10,830 from Dublin South-West to Dublin South-Central, and
(ii) the transfer of an area with a population of 5,783 from Dublin West to Dublin Central.
The Bill proposes to implement the commission's proposals in full. Senators will note that although only four constituencies are affected by the changes, all the constituencies are defined anew in the Schedule. This is to ensure that the revision now proposed is a revision within the meaning of Article 16.2 of the Constitution.
As Senators have already received copies of the commission's report indicating the changes proposed in these four constituencies, I do not think it necessary for me at this stage to comment in relation to any of these individual constituencies. Maps indicating the territorial changes proposed have been deposited in the Oireachtas Library.
In conclusion, I should like, on behalf of the Government, to express appreciation at the manner in which the commission have done their job and to place on the record of the House our thanks to the members of the commission, Mr. Justice Walsh of the Supreme Court, Mr. Turpin, Secretary of the Department of the Environment, and the Clerk of the Dáil, Mr. Rayel. I am sure that the House will wish to be associated with this expression of appreciation.