Candidates in the European elections are likely to have their photographs on the ballot paper, according to the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dempsey.
During a debate on the Electoral Amendment Bill, which revises Dail constituency boundaries, Mr Dempsey said he hoped to keep a commitment made by his predecessor that photos would be produced on the ballot papers of the European elections.
The next European Parliament elections take place in June 1999.
The Minister was responding to Mr John Dardis (PD), deputy leader of the House, who called for the photos and dismissed concerns that they would lead to "beauty contests".
Ms Therese Ridge (FG) also supported having photos on ballot papers because of the increasing literacy problem. A politician might not be a Spice Girl or a Paul Newman but a beauty contest was "a spurious argument". She had not noticed many people objecting to beauty contests.
Mr Dempsey said his Department was currently looking at the possibility. It might not be as difficult to do in the European elections compared to the Dail because the parties usually knew well in advance who their candidates would be for those while it would be much closer to the date for elections to the Dail.
In the debate, the Electoral Amendment Bill was accepted by all parties in the Seanad without amendment although a number of senators advocated a change to single-seat constituencies which the Minister said he favoured.
During the debate, Mr Dempsey said the Bill increased the number of constituencies by one to 42 but kept Dail membership at 166.
"There will be 16 three-seat constituencies, 12 four-seaters and 14 five-seat constituencies. There are changes to 21 existing constituencies," he said, adding that the population per TD ranged from 6.66 per cent above the national average in the Waterford constituency to 7.44 per cent below the national average in Sligo-Leitrim.
In Dublin, the existing 47 seats would be retained in 12 constituencies. There would be a new constituency in Dublin Mid-West and there would be boundary changes in all 11 existing constituencies. There would also be a transfer between the Dublin constituencies of a population of 97,000, not including the new constituency.
Minor territorial changes would be made to 10 constituencies, four in Cork and the two constituencies in each of the counties Kildare, Limerick and Galway, including a population transfer of 20,200.
The changes will come into place in the next general election but will not affect by-elections in the meantime.