Malcolm Byrne: Close to the edge — constituency challenges at the county bounds

Fianna Fáil senator Malcolm Byrne reflects on changes proposed in the Electoral Commission report

Among the issues being considered by people poring over the new Electoral Commission report is what happens when county and constituency boundaries cross each other. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

For almost half a century, we have had independent constituency boundary reviews. Every time one is published, there are some surprises, some expressions of happiness, and some of anger.

But the fact that we accept that an independent body carries out this work impartially is an important part of our democracy. Witness some of the appalling gerrymandering that exists in the drawing of some districts in the United States and we know our democracy is in a healthy state.

I thought that there would be more surprises. 

Going for 174 seats in the new Dáil was closer to the minimum level of increase and the new Electoral Commission stuck pretty rigidly to its remit. As chairwoman Ms Justice Marie Baker said, it wasn’t their job to future-proof constituencies.

An Coimisiún Toghcháin chairwoman Ms Justice Marie Baker and CEO Art O'Leary at the launch of the report. Ms Justice Baker pointed out future-proofing  constituencies was not the Electoral Commission's task. Brian Lawless/PA

I am also pleased that they did consider the 541 submissions that were received during the public consultation period. This is evidenced in their report. 

It is also worth reading the rationale behind their decision making that is set out in the report.

And while every politician will have an academic interest in what is happening in other parts of the country, their primary focus is on their home patch. Elected representatives know their areas intimately: Which polling stations are strong or weak for them; the geography and demographics of an electoral division; the local issues.

Across the border

Geography counts in Irish elections. Voters are more likely to vote for their local candidates and that applies in general as well as in local elections.

So when the Electoral Commission report was uploaded on Wednesday morning, I could safely bet that nobody involved in electoral politics read the introduction and preamble but rather went straight to the map of their constituency.

I live in Gorey in the north of Co Wexford, about 10km from the Wicklow border.

We knew that between Wicklow and Wexford, because of the rapid population growth in both counties, there would now be 11 seats. Indeed, in my own submission, I observed that if the commission were to go with a 176-seat Dáil, based on 2022 Census figures, Wexford would be entitled to 5.62 Dáil seats while Wicklow would be entitled to 5.34 — almost exactly 11 seats without having to breach any other county boundaries.

The commission's options

The big question was how would that split fall. 

Would Wexford become two three-seaters and take in a skelp of South Wicklow to make up the numbers leaving Wicklow as a five-seater? Or would the reverse be the case with a slice of North Wexford joining a three seat South Wicklow constituency? If a chunk of voters from around Gorey ended up in a new South Wicklow constituency, that could be fatal to the electoral prospects of anyone from North Wexford.

In the end, the commission went with a more imaginative option of two four-seat constituencies and a three-seater. It means that the new Wicklow/Wexford constituency crosses a border but there are significant enough voter numbers in each county to ensure effective impact at election time.

An overview of the proposed new constituency boundaries. See links in this article to access the Irish Examiner's comprehensive range of analysis and comment about the changes. 

The North Wexford area continues to be one of the fastest growing in the State with our population increasing by 14% between 2016 and 2022, but it did not have a TD since both Michael D’Arcy and I lost our Dáil seats in the 2020 election.

Across the border in Wicklow in the 2020 election, an unusual situation resulted in all five TDs there being located in the Bray/Greystones area, all in the North-Eastern corner of that constituency. Arklow is the largest town in the country that has never elected a TD who resided there of any political colour.

There are many links between North Wexford and South Wicklow and I expect that these will be even closer now.

County bounds 

Certainly political parties will be examining next June’s local election results and will also be trying to size up Ireland’s newest constituency that crosses a county boundary.

Indeed, one of the big talking points about the Electoral Commission’s report this week on Dáil constituencies has been around the importance of county boundaries. 

Almost 300 of the public submissions referenced this issue and a lot of the positive or negative responses relate to where an area has moved back into its home county (parts of Meath leaving Cavan-Monaghan to form part of the Meath East constituency) or where they have been hived off to help another constituency (parts of Kilkenny moving to Tipperary North).

Senator Malcolm Byrne says a colleague suggested the rules on Dáil set out in the 1937 Constitution are out of date — but she went on to argue that county bounds determined half a millennium ago by the English should never be touched. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The county boundaries are not ancient Irish fiefdoms but were predominantly Tudor period English-created structures to provide for local administration. 

Indeed, Wicklow was the last county in Ireland to be ‘shired’, in 1606. Yet, over time — and perhaps particularly due to sporting loyalties — attachment has grown to the county as an administrative structure.

Indeed, I smiled when I heard a parliamentary colleague suggesting that the requirements on Dáil size set out by the 1937 Constitution were not fit for the modern era while she passionately argued that local administrative boundaries determined half a millennium ago by the English should never be touched.

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However, it does make sense where possible that voters only have to deal with one set of local politicians and one set of national politicians. 

Where a local electoral area is split between two constituencies, that means dealing with two sets of TDs and where a constituency is over two or more counties, that means that TDs must engage occasionally with two or more local authorities.

Where this is not always possible, I believe that having a significant enough number of voters from an area in a constituency will help ensure that they do not feel disenfranchised.

• Malcolm Byrne is a Fianna Fáil senator.