Higgins blames defeat on failure to redraw boundary

Constituency boundaries:Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins has blamed the failure to redraw the constituency boundaries for his general election defeat. Mr Higgins lost out in Dublin West in a three-way battle with Labour's Joan Burton and Fine Gael's Dr Leo Varadkar.

On RTÉ's News at Oneyesterday, Mr Higgins said there was a "scandalous disparity" between population growth and the number of seats in Dublin West and Dublin North.

He believed there was a "deliberate gerrymandering" by the Minister for the Environment of both constituencies because an extra seat would have gone to Mr Higgins, to fellow Socialist Party candidate Clare Daly or to an Opposition politician.

"The mass growth of population in Dublin West and Dublin North was not reflected in the extra seats we should have," he said. "Dublin South East had 33,800 people come out to vote and elected four TDs and Dublin West had 33,900 and elected three TDs only. John Gormley was elected on 6,400 votes. I was eliminated on 7,400."

A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said constituency boundaries were set by the independent constituency commission which reviews them after every census.

"The Minister is independent of the whole process," he said.

Next month, the High Court will deliberate on a legal challenge taken by Dublin West resident Feargal Molloy that the constituency should have an extra seat. The case also involves challenges from Independent TD Finian McGrath and defeated Kildare North TD Catherine Murphy.

Mr Higgins also predicted an economic downturn which he said would confound those who believed the radical left was finished as a force in Irish politics.

"There was a certain fear and nervousness among a certain cohort of people who are suffering massively from infrastructural crisis, massive mortgages and a fear that a change might bring some instability or less certainly with regard to the economic climate.

"The term of this new Government will be quite different to the last Government if we see what is coming down the line economically," he added.

"It will not be a smooth ride for the Government. The OECD has already pointed to the fragile nature of the economy, with an over-reliance on construction, inflation rising and massive indebtedness with people such amounts for mortgages."