Madam, - The inhabitants of Limerick must be suitably aggrieved after the Constituency Commission stripped the county of a TD and transferred 14,000 voters to a new constituency dominated by Kerry North ("Changes to affect 20 constituencies", The Irish Times, October 24th).
Meanwhile, the people of Leitrim are to remain divided and probably unable to elect a local TD in either half of the county. Elsewhere, constituents in Carlow-Kilkenny are to remain under-represented, while those in Cavan-Monaghan are over-represented.
Seventy years on from the adoption of Bunreacht na hÉireann, we have yet to arrive at a satisfactory compromise between geography and population that would see county boundaries respected while ensuring an equitable distribution of TDs amongst the people.
In addition, we have a Seanad with such minimal powers and undemocratic composition as to render it an essentially irrelevant body, existing only to maintain the illusion of a bi-cameral legislature.
Why not remedy two problems at once by imitating the US federal system, where two senators are directly elected to the upper house by the citizens of each state, regardless of the state's population? The people also elect a total of 435 representatives to the House of Representatives, in electoral districts drawn according to population. The lower house is designed to represent the people, the upper house the states. The consent of both houses is required to enact a law.
Seanad Éireann should be reformed so as to give it real legislative powers and each of the Republic's 26 counties should elect two senators by popular vote. The Dáil constituencies could then be more closely linked to population, with the tension over geographical divides reduced.
The people of Leitrim would thereby get a guaranteed voice in Leinster House, Dublin would get the appropriate number of TDs for its booming population and the Seanad would take on a new and dynamic role in our democracy. - Is mise,
SEÁN Ó LOINGSIGH, Brownshill Rd. Carlow.