Limerick TD furious at ‘land grab’ by Kerry constituencies

A CO Limerick TD has hit out at attempts to retain two Dáil constituencies in Kerry, saying it could only be done at the expense of his county.

Patrick O’Donovan (FG) has told the constituency commission county that boundaries should be respected and west Limerick should be “transferred back to its native county”.

He has also hit out at a submission by the Kerry South TD Michael Healy-Rae, accusing him of attempting “a land grab” in seeking to retain six TDs across two constituencies in neighbouring Kerry.

He said more than 13,000 west Limerick people had effectively been disenfranchised in the last general election when the area was joined with Kerry North.

The Kerry North-West Limerick constituency ends at the suburbs of Newcastlewest in Limerick and Mr O’Donovan said proud Limerick people had found themselves alienated.

Speaking yesterday, he hit out at a submission by Mr Healy-Rae, saying that rural counties needed greater representation. Due to population decline, it is believed Kerry is likely to become one five-seater constituency.

Mr Healy-Rae has said that because of its difficult geography, Kerry needed to retain both constituencies.

However Mr O’Donovan warned the TD to keep his “hands off Limerick”.

“The only way Kerry can retain both is to take a further skelp out of Limerick. We are saying to Mr Healy-Rae, hands off Limerick. If there is a problem in Kerry with falling population it should be sorted in Kerry,” said Mr O’Donovan.

He said there was strong feeling in west Limerick over the work of the boundary commission last time, which divided parishes and families.

Limerick was a proud county with its own identity and did not need to be drowned in the green and gold, he added.

He dismissed Mr Healy-Rae’s argument about Kerry’s difficult geography, saying mobile phones, Skype and other technology made that argument redundant.

“With internet and mobile phones there’s no place that you can’t make yourself available as a TD,” he said.

In his written submission, Mr O’Donovan said: “The boundaries of the counties should once again be viewed as the paramount division of the constituencies, with all else subordinate.”

Mr Healy-Rae felt urban TDs had “an easier job” when it came to covering their constituency, because of the “extremely large diversity of countryside”.

“I believe that you cannot compare rural Ireland to larger urban areas where you have a concentration of people in a very small area and where I believe TDs have an easier job in covering their constituency,” he said.

The terms of reference of the commission, set up by Environment Minister Phil Hogan, provide that it will recommend constituencies based on a reduced number of TDs.

The overall number of TDs is to be between 153 and 160. Previously the range was 164 to 168.

There is no fewer than one TD for ever 30,000 in population and not to be more than one TD for each 20,000.

Kerry was originally a single five-seater constituency .