Fine Gael TD for Mayo and member of the Constitutional Convention, Michelle Mulherin, has proposed that the Constitutional Convention should examine Article 16 of the Constitution which states that the number of TDs in each constituency should be directly related to the number of people living in the constituency. Deputy Mulherin has argued that other considerations such as geography and access to services should be considered when deciding on how many TDs each constituency should have.
She said this week: "The recent reduction of eight TDs was decided by the Boundary Commission strictly on a population basis. Approximately five of those eight TDs being lost are from large rural counties like Donegal, Kerry, Tipperary, and Cavan/Monaghan including one from my own constituency, Mayo. Furthermore, these areas will experience the abolition of town councils and a loss in the number of councillors, as well as the potential abolition of the Seanad. This raises issues about political representation for remote rural areas and a consequent danger of a democratic deficit in these areas.”
She continued: “The current criteria for Dáil representation takes no account of rural identity or far flung geography of a constituency like Mayo, where it could take two hours to get from one end of the constituency to the other and on a substandard road network. From a constituent’s point of view, public transport and broadband is very poor if non existent in areas. Contrast that with major urban areas where constituents have daily access to an abundance of services, systems, and supports relatively speaking. There is precedent in other jurisdictions such as in the UK where the number of constituents a London MP has is significantly more than the number of constituents in an outlying area such as the Hebrides.” The first term TD argued that consideration should be given to regions such as Mayo because “the west and border regions have traditionally been recognised as economically and infrastructural disadvantaged as well as being geographically remote. In some western counties up to 70 per cent of the population live in rural areas which poses unique challenges and opportunities for the development of the region. We know that in the west during the building boom one quarter of all men were employed in the construction industry compared to one fifth nationwide. Thus the collapse knocked back the west even more than other areas. However the west is naturally well placed through the emerging green economy, agriculture, and tourism to play its part in our economic recovery given the right representation and supports.” Mulherin’s proposals will be debated by the Constitutional Convention at its next meeting over June 8 and 9.
