THE DRAMATIC reduction of three-seat local electoral areas from 32 to just three before next year’s local elections will favour the Green Party, Fine Gael sources have claimed.
However, the claim was rejected last night by the Green Party’s spokesman in Government.
The changes have been recommended by two committees established by Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, to review the boundaries of local electoral areas.
The first committee examined borough councils in Dublin city and Co Dublin and the four other major cities: Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.
The second committee examined the electoral areas for the rest of the country.
The two key terms of reference for the committees were to remove three-member local electoral areas in all but the most exceptional cases, and to try to align local electoral areas with Dáil constituency boundaries.
The number of three-member electoral areas in Dublin and other cities was reduced from eight to zero, while those in the rest of the country were reduced from 24 to three. The remaining local electoral areas with three council seats are Bandon, Co Cork; Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, and Dingle, Co Kerry. The committee deemed that exceptional circumstances applied in all three.
Officially, Fine Gael last night said the outcome of the review was expected, and it would be pushing ahead with its election conventions for the local elections in 2009. However, sources in the party said the terms of reference drawn up by the Minister, who is also the leader of the Green Party, directed the removal of three-member areas in all but exceptional circumstances.
It was more than a coincidence, said the sources, that larger electoral areas favoured smaller parties like the Greens.
However, the Green spokesman dismissed the claim, and described it as a “calumny” against the independent committees.
“The changes maximise the fairness of proportional representation. The bigger an electoral area, the fairer the distribution of seats. It more closely reflects the proportion of support attracted by parties and candidates.”
The Labour Party said it agreed with a bigger electoral area as it did provide more representative local authorities.
However, the party’s spokesman said the process of reviewing the boundaries was flawed from the start. The Minister, when drawing up the terms of reference, had refused to allow change to the overall boundaries of county councils or city councils. He had also ruled out any increase or decrease in the number of councillors on local authorities.
There are some significant shifts within councils. In Cork City, the south-east and south-west areas both gain a councillor. The north of Dublin City Council loses one seat to the south.
The overall number of local electoral areas is cut from 192 to 182.
Both reports are available at www.electoralareacommittees.ie/