Claims of ‘gerrymandering’ over reduction in seats per constituency

Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy has been accused of trying to “gerrymander” local boundaries to suit Fine Gael at the expense of Independents, amid plans to reduce the number of seats per constituency.

The proposal for smaller electoral areas has drawn a fierce response from the Independent Alliance within Government, who feel it would see up to 70 Independent councillors lose seats.

However, Mr Murphy is growing increasingly frustrated as time is running short to allow new boundaries to be in place at least a year ahead of the next election in 2019.