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THE THORNY QUESTION of where to put the town of Swords accounts for around half of all submissions sent to the Constituency Commission, ahead of its decisions on how to redraw Ireland’s electoral boundaries.
Of the 533 submissions published so far by the Commission – which stopped accepting public submissions on the proposed boundary changes on Tuesday – 238 deal specifically with the question of which constituency Swords should be put into.
Another 27 submissions address the matter of Swords – which was moved into Dublin West for the last election, divorced from its historical home of Dublin North – as part of other comments about reassigning territory between the two constituencies.
A large chunk of the submissions on Swords are the result of a petition organised by the local branch of Fianna Fáil – who point out that 280 voters are currently assigned to vote in polling stations three miles away, instead of the one across the road.
Among the parties complaining about the Swords move is Fingal County Council, whose territory corresponds broadly with that of Dublin North – which complained that the county town was no longer in the same constituency as the rest of the county.
Another regular submission includes the complaints that Dublin areas like Terenure and Harold’s Cross are divided between two constituencies.
Many of the submissions from Kerry – including those from the Kerry South branch of Fianna Fáil, Labour senator Marie Moloney and independent TD Michael Healy-Rae – argue against the amalgamation of the Kerry North and Kerry South constituencies.
It is widely anticipated that the two constituencies – each of which currently boasts three seats – will become one large five-seater, and many submissions complain that a single large constituency would provide too great a geographical spread for candidates to represent.
As yet, only three submissions have been made about the restructure of European Parliament constituencies, which are also up for review by the Commission.
Each of those three submissions reaches a separate conclusion: one from the Fine Gael party recommends the status quo, another from an expatriate group recommends the creation of three four-seaters (replacing the four three-seat constituencies currently in place), while the third advocates the adoption of a single national 12-seat constituency.
A new Constituency Commission is formed every five years after a census is held, in order to ensure that the average population per TD or MEP remains broadly in line with a national average.
The Constitution requires that there be at least one TD for every 20,000 members of the public, and a maximum of one TD for every 30,000 people. This year the commission has been told to cut the number of TDs to between 153 and 160.
Ireland is entitled to elect 12 MEPs, but there are no fixed rules governing the size of any European Parliament constituencies.
How should Ireland arrange its European constituencies?
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What could they have possibly come up with at the 11th hour that no one thought of before. My guess is that it will be Mays deal but with new language and the DUPs are the fall guys as they will have to try to convince the media it’s a different deal. They also need to convince their electorate that it’s a new deal because they want happy campers post Brexit and to be able to say they saved their precious union.
@Paul Furey: Boris’s paper has adopted a long awaited change of tone – interesting … looks like the Boris bus is on the way
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/10/10/northern-ireland-burden-rest-uk-cant-let-get-way-brexit/
Boris was always planning a deal. It was noted in Sept by senior Tories Johnson had said he’d have no problem throwing the DUP under the bus. For that, first he needed to lose the majority, go for the no deal and flush out the patriots from the Tories, Gets rid and the majority’s gone and with that the DUP became meaningless. The blame game and erratic nonsense since wasnt for the EU’s benefit, the ridiculous offer was for Arlene Foster so she’d row in behind and lose public support in NI-job done. Unlawful actions was to throw parliment up in arms and have them aghast so when he comes back with something similar to the red line May Deal that she wouldnt put to parliment, the Labour rebels and theTories set adrift will row in behind him and suddenly he has the majority again. I think the first vote he’ll win will be that deal and the DUP are thrown away. Its the only thing that makes sense the past number of weeks. Its actually genius when you think about it a s much as I hate to say it
@Daimhín De Naois: the Editorial in The Daily Telegraph today reflects exactly what the Tories think of Northern Ireland within the UK – a millstone! Terrible stuff.
@Daimhín De Naois: you’re giving the tories too much credit there.
….not sure the DUP see the bus coming…..
Ireland and EU can and hopefully will drive a deal through . EU the ones always using Ireland as a stick to beat UK. Varadker needs to get a deal done that’s best for Ireland , not the EU. Junk the drunk and mister Barnier won’t be best pleases at Boris and Taoiseach making progress. EU don’t do democracy and will do all in their power to stop Brexit.
On the plus side, Johnson at least bothered to tuck his shirt in this time. He must mean business.
Good conversation about socks so
@Eugene Conroy: Haha a sock joke so original
That’s Ireland and ‘UK’ can and hopefully will ensure a deal…
How did the DUP ever think, could get a veto on the backdrop? These are big boys games, as they are about to find out!
@Josh Hanners: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/what-connects-brexit-the-dup-dark-money-and-a-saudi-prince-1.3083586
I hope Varadkar didn’t flinch.
@JoyMonkey: When could FG ever say no to the Tory party???
Nothing like a good fudge?
Veradker should make a deal with Johnson for a free trade deal
@Alan Scott: Ah jesus come on, inform yourself.
He’s now even tying his bloody tie like Trump!
@Big Red: Boris gets Trump to tell Leo what to do and that is my fear… And Boris does what Trump tells him then???
It’s not just an Irish border but also an EU one as well???
@TamuMassif2019: In case you did not know Ireland is part of the EU – and quite happy to be a member according to latest polls. So if it would be an Irish border with a non EU country then you can call it both – Irish and EU border – no problem. What is exactly your question?
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