Constituency Commission report

reppin

Am I the only one who thinks that the report of the Commission and it's recommendation to redraw some constituencies and reduce the number of T.D.'s is a joke. Were we not promised real reform and the best they can offer is reduction of the T.D. numbers by 8. Some time back I heard Minister Hogan say that the number of T.D.'s could be reduced by only between 8 and 13 but no more than that under the constitution.Surely the constitutional representation should be voted upon and the strength of the Dail reduced to reflect the size of country and population. I don't like to make comparisons but if the UK had the same level of M.P.'s based on our figures the number of M.P.'s would be in the region of 2,500. Similarly based on their figures the number of T.D.'s here would be about 40. Mr. Kenny promised the abolition of the Seanad when he came to power, I would disagree but again but I would limit the number to 20 Senators. As for County Councillors well that's another story, now do we really need them at all? At present Waterford is a very good example of the excess of representation, there are 4 T.D.'s, 2 Senators and between city and county there are 38 councillors, representation or what? My whole point is we seem to have no choice but to put up with less teachers, gardai, doctors, nurses, civil servants but we will only lose 8 T.D.'s. If Mr. Kenny and his cabinet is serious then we must have real reform after all the country is in receivership! Maybe no one sees it as I do but I had to leave of a bit of steam when I read the report, if anyone cares to comment I will be delighted but please if you have a relation, husband, wife or sweetheart in the houses of the Oireachtas or sitting in a county council somewhere please temper your comments accordingly:mad: