Three-seaters did not favour main parties

THREE-SEAT constituencies did not markedly favour the main parties in the 2002 General Election.

While Fianna Fáil fared well in smaller constituencies, Fine Gael fared comparatively poorly, with the Labour Party picking up proportionately more seats in the three-seaters than in four- or five-seaters.

Fianna Fáil won half of the 48 seats in the 16 constituencies, representing a marginally better return than in larger constituencies.

Fine Gael won only nine of its 31 seats, but failed to win any seat in seven of the constituencies: a major factor in the party’s dismal performance.

Labour picked up a third of its seats while five of the 14 independents (including sole Socialist Party deputy Joe Higgins) were elected in these constituencies. However, other parties fared worse in three-seaters. The Progressive Democrats, Greens and Sinn Féin each returned only one seat.

One of the strongest criticisms of the trend towards three-seat constituencies has been they will militate against smaller parties and independents, and favour the traditional Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour axis.

Dr Richard Sinnot of the Politics Department in University College Dublin said yesterday that it was a valid argument because, in a three-seater constituency, candidates need to win 25% of the vote to gain a quota, whereas in five-seat constituencies, only 16.6% of the vote is required.

Sinn Féin yesterday argued that the possibility of six-seat constituencies should be explored, as is in place for the North’s Assembly. The party’s candidate in Meath, Joe Reilly, came close to winning a seat in 2002, but his Navan base is in the new three-seater Meath-West constituency where there are three sitting TDs: Fianna Fáil’s Noel Dempsey and John Brady and Fine Gael’s Damien English.

There was widespread anger in Leitrim yesterday at the splitting of the county into two. Former Fine Gael TD Gerry Reynolds confirmed that he would be likely to seek a nomination in the new Roscommon-South Leitrim constituency.

Meanwhile, Batt O’Keeffe (FF), said yesterday that he was still deciding whether to remain in the Cork South Central constituency or move to Cork North West. His Ballincollig base is to transfer to the three-seat constituency.