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Splitting Leitrim - is it fair?
The Constituency Commission recently published its recommendations for constituency changes, based on the results of the 2002 census. Amongst the recommendations made by the Commission was that Leitrim be split in two in order to form the constituencies of Sligo-North Leitrim and Roscommon-South Leitrim. Leitrim has the smallest population of any county in the Republic and splitting it in two means that it will be very difficult for a Leitrim-based candidate to win election to the Dáil. The population of Leitrim at the last census was just 25,815, compared to the ratio of TDs to population of 1:23,598. In other words, Leitrim is entitled to 1.09 TDs. The last time that this consituency arrangement occurred, in 1977, no TD from Leitrim was elected. The traditional electoral unit in the Republic is the county and the county is a unit that people readily identify with. Tens of thousands of people were at sporting events today supporting their native counties. It is surely unfair that the county with the smallest population should be split in two for electoral purposes, with neither part of the county having a population sufficient to elect a TD.
Why did the Constituency Commission recommend splitting county Leitrim? There are a number of reasons why the Commission recommended that county Leitrim be split:- - the requirement that county boundaries should not be breached was not given sufficient weight - the requirement to maintain continuity was misinterpreted - the Commission has invented irrelevant constraints with regard to constituency boundaries - a lack of submissions from Leitrim people Insufficient weight given to the requirement that county boundaries not be breached Ever since the foundation of the state, the traditional electoral unit for the purposes of electing the Dáil has been the county. This is re-inforced in the Commission's terms of reference that state that the breaching of county boundaries should be avoided where practicable. The clear implication of this requirement is that TDs represent counties. In splitting a county in two such that neither fragment of the county has a population sufficient to elect a TD, the Commission is breaking the spirit, if not the letter, of its terms of reference. The misinterpretation of the requirement to maintain continuity Another reason the Commission decided to split Leitrim in two appears to be that the county was similarly split in the past. The Commission seems to believe that the fact that the Leitirm was split in two before justifies splitting it again. This seems to be an absurd misinterpretation of the last of its terms of reference - that of endevouring to maintain continuity in the arrangement of constituencies. Even the commission acknowledges that the constituency of Longford-Roscommon was not a success. Judging by the Commission's report, the fact that the constituency occurred once means that it is now fated to reappear again and again in the future. Invented constraints The Commission appears to have invented some constraints regarding constituency boundaries. For example, the Commission report states that a constituency including 3 counties is undesirable. There is no evidence given to support such a conclusion. Insufficient submissions It appears that the inhabitants of county Leitrim were unaware that their county might be split by a constituency review. Had the commission received several hundred submissions from Leitrim people, they may have given more consideration to the alternatives. Alternative constituency arrangements There are a number of other constituency arrangements which are fairer than that proposed by the commission. The following are two possible alternatives:- Donegal-Leitrim and Roscommon-Sligo The county of Leitrim could be attached in its entirety to Donegal South-West creating a new 4-seat constituency of Donegal-Leitrim, while Sligo and Roscommon could be combined into a single 5-seat constituency.
Galway-Roscommon and Sligo-Leitrim-Roscommon The southern part of Roscommon could be added to Galway East creating a new 5-seat constituency of Galway-Roscommon. The remainder of Roscommon is added to the Sligo-Leitrim constituency to create a new 5-seater.
Can anything be done? There is a campaign underway in Leitrim to have the constituency arrangement changed in some way so as to avoid Leitrim being split. The ideal result of such a campaign is that the Constituency Commission would be recalled to reconsider its report, with its terms of reference modified in such a way that it would be impossible for Leitrim to be split. The amended terms of reference should include an extra requirement such as "no county boundary should be breached, unless at least one part of the county retains a population equal to the national population divided by the size of the Dáil.". This would mean at least one part of Leitrim would have to retain a population of 23598. There are other alternatives. At present, legislation restricts the size of constituencies to no more than 5 seats. It would certainly be possible to amend this legislation to allow for larger constituencies. The Northern Ireland Assembly elections were held using 6-seat constituencies without any difficulties.. Rather than recall the Constituency Commission, the Dáil has the power to merge the constituencies of Sligo-North Leitrim and Roscommon-South Leitrim into a single 6-seat constituency. Conclusion The next general election is not due until 2007. There is plenty of time for the Constituency Commission to be asked to reconsider the constituency boundaries with amended terms of reference. It is important that any amendment to the boundaries is done on a non-party basis. There must be no return to the days where constituency boundaries were set for party political advantage. In the longer term, the only solution is that the terms of reference given to the commission prohibit a county from being split unless at least one part of the county retains a population sufficient to elect a TD. There will be times in future where Donegal has a population equivalent to 6.5 or 5.5 TDs and where there is no choice but to create a constituency including Leitrim and parts of Donegal. In the short term, the simplest solution is to create a single 6-seater Sligo-Roscommon-Leitrim constituency containing all 3 counties. This solution is only acceptable if there is cross-party support. At a minimum, the agreement of all 3 main parties, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour is required. It is well known in the Republic that Leitrim has the lowest population of any county. It is not so well known that it once had a large population. In 1841, the last census before the famine, the population of Leitrim was 155,297. Today, only Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Kildare have higher populations. The population of Leitrim today, at 25815, is just 16.62% of its pre-famine level. Where did all these people go? Perhaps this is something to think about when voting in the citizenship referendum. |
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