Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 June 2018
588. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the timeline for the review of the European Parliament seat and boundary review; if there is further consideration or amendment of the recently published review of the local government boundaries; and if the publication of that report constitutes the official enactment of the new local electoral area boundaries. [27612/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe composition of the current 2014-2019 European Parliament was established by European Council Decision 2013/312/EU of 28 June 2013, which, in the case of Ireland, provided for the election of 11 MEPs. The current number of MEPs in the European Parliament is 750 plus the President with each Member State having between 6 and 96 Members.
Council Decision 2013/312/EU provided that it would be revised again in advance of the 2019-2024 parliamentary term upon an initiative of the European Parliament to be presented to the European Council before the end of 2016. The launch of this process was, however, postponed by the European Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs (i.e. the AFCO Committee) until after the referendum in the United Kingdom on its withdrawal from the European Union.
Following a report on the matter by the AFCO Committee, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on 7 February 2018 which contains a Proposal for a Decision of the European Council establishing the composition of the European Parliament. In broad terms, the proposal provides, among other things, that:
- when the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union becomes legally effective, 27 of the United Kingdom’s 73 seats would be re-distributed among 14 Member States, of which 2 would go to Ireland, increasing Ireland’s MEPs from 11 to 13 in number. This would mean a reduction in the overall size of the European Parliament from 751 to 705 members;
- however, as set out in the Parliament's resolution, if the date on which the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union becomes legally effective takes place after the European Parliament elections are held in mid-2019, the number of MEPs to be elected from each Member State for the 2019-2024 parliamentary term would remain the same as that of the current parliament. The additional seats would only be filled on the date after which the United Kingdom's withdrawal becomes legally effective.
The proposal, which will require unanimity, is now under consideration within the European Council. My Department is aware that the consent of the Parliament was sought by the Council by way of written procedure and that MEPs gave their consent to the proposal on 13 June 2018. I understand that it is anticipated that the proposal will be adopted by the European Council at its meeting on 28-29 June 2018.
In the event that Ireland’s total number of seats in the European Parliament is changed in respect of the 2019-2024 parliamentary term, it will be necessary to review our European constituency arrangements. Under section 5(1A) of the Electoral Act 1997, provision is made for the establishment of a Constituency Commission in such circumstances to review, and report with recommendations on, European Parliament constituencies. This was done in 2013 prior to the last elections to the European Parliament.
On the matter of local electoral areas, I established two independent Local Electoral Area Boundary Committees on 13 December 2017 to review and make recommendations on local electoral areas having regard to, among other things, the results of Census 2016 as well as the commitment to consider reducing the size of territorially large local electoral areas as set out in A Programme for a Partnership Government (May 2016). The two Committees reported to me on 12 June 2018 and now stand dissolved.
The publication of the two Boundary Committee Reports does not constitute the official enactment of the new local electoral area boundaries. Orders will need to be prepared in accordance with section 23 of the Local Government Act 2001. In this regard, work will now commence within my Department on the preparation of the necessary orders to give effect to the Committees' recommendations in relation to local electoral areas.
It is anticipated that these orders will be made in the Autumn of this year. The local electoral areas to be specified in these orders, and the number of members to be elected for each electoral area, will apply at the next local elections, which are due to be held in late May 2019 in tandem with the elections for the 2019-2024 European Parliament.
