Fair and Responsive: Catherine Murphy on the 2012 Constituency Commission Report

Press Release | 21st June 2012

Catherine Murphy (Independent TD for Kildare North) today broadly welcomed the publication of the Constituency Commission report which recommends several boundary changes to Dáil Éireann constituencies.

The Deputy, along with Deputy Finian McGrath of Dublin North Central, took a case against the Government in 2007 on what was, at that stage, a “remarkable and alarming failure by successive Governments” to ensuring that Dáil representation was applied within the constitutional limits, and as fairly as is practicable.
Speaking after publication of the report today, Deputy Murphy praised the “vastly improved” and “speedy” review process as “having virtually eliminated the rampant cases of over- and under-representation in the Dáil which existed up to recent years”.
“I’m very glad to see that the Constituency Commission review process has become far more responsive to the changing demographics of Ireland, particularly since preliminary census returns trigger reviews. The original case taken by myself and Deputy Finian McGrath was prompted by a grossly negligent approach by the Government of the day, which had resulted in many areas of high population growth routinely ending up under-represented in the Dáil; and consequently many rural and sparsely populated areas ended up over-represented.
“I’m very glad that this undemocratic trend seems now to have been properly tackled in a speedy & trustworthy manner. While further electoral reform is certainly needed in Ireland, I would like to praise the important work of the Commission in helping break the political influence on our Constituencies and ensuring basic constitutional rights are adhered to.

Report on Dáil and European Parliament Constituencies 2012

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Posted by admin on June 21, 2012. Filed under Elections & Referendums,homepage,In the Dáil,Kildare,Latest News,National Issues,Political & Public Service Reform. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.