A Chairde,

We represent the Fianna Fáil organisation in Dún Laoghaire Constituency. We welcome the opportunity to make a submission to the Electoral Commission’s Dáil and European Parliament Constittuency Reviews.

In considering our submission on Dáil Constituencies, we are mindful of the Commission’s Terms of

Reference, in particular:

•      the total number of TDs shall be not less than 171 and not more than 181

•      the breaching of county boundaries should be avoided as far as practicable

•      there shall be regard to geographic considerations

•      maintaining continuity in relation to the arrangement of constituencies

As regards Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council area, incorporating Dún Laoghaire and Dublin

Rathdown Constituencies:

Should the Commission settle on a number of TDs in or around 171 seats (at the lower end of the scale), the DLR County Council area would likely gain one additional seat, bringing the total number of seats in DLR to eight.

In this case the Commission may consider bringing the southern portion of Glencullen LEA, not already in Dún Laoghaire Constituency, into Dún Laoghaire to create a 5-seat constituency which incorporates the coastal communities and southern uplands, leaving Dublin Rathdown as a compact urban 3-seat constituency largely inside the M50 motorway.

Should the Commission settle on the upper end of the scale, towards 180 TDs which  could result in six extra TDs in Dublin county, it might be preferable to future proof the arrangements in DLR to maintain continuity, particularly given the very rapid growth in the communities of Cherrywood, Carrickmines and Leopardstown, by allocating two additional seats to the DLR area, bringing it to 9 seats.

In this case, bringing Dún Laoghaire Constituency to 5 seats and Dublin Rathdown Constituency to 4 seats would be preferable, with whatever minor population adjustments from Dublin South West that might be required (we note the Commission is not obliged to take account of the boundaries between councils in Dublin).

In a scenario where the Commission setttles on a 4 / 4 allocation for Dún Laoghaire and Dublin Rathdown, this will involve a population transfer from Dún Laoghaire to Dublin Rathdown to balance the variance, likely involving the Leopardstown, Foxrock, Cabinteely and Cherrywood areas, which is very regrettable given these communities have strong geographic ties to the Dún Laoghaire area.

Turning to the arrangements for the European Parliament Constituencies:

It has been suggested Ireland will gain an additional European Parliament seat. Given the very rapid population growth in Dublin it would be preferable if the Dublin European Parliament Constituency was allocated the additional seat bringing it to 5 seats and the other constituencies remaining largely unchanged.

We wish the Commission members well with their work.

Dún Laoghaire Fianna Fáil CDC

10/05/2023