Dáil moves on constituency changes

By the close of Dáil business today The Cavan/Monaghan constituency should be one step closer to a five seater. The proposed changes to the constituency will come as a result of submissions to the Dáil Constituency Commission requesting that the county be reunited.

Last June it was announced that nationally the number of TDs in Leinster house was to increase from 158 to 160 at next election with Cavan-Monaghan, Dublin Central and Kildare South all gaining an extra deputy. The legislation to enact the changes recommended by the Dáil Constituency Commission will be discussed in Dáil Éireann today (Wednesday).

This legislation will facilitate the reunification of Cavan/Monaghan plus seven electoral divisions from east Meath to form the new five seat Cavan/Monaghan constituency. The Electoral (Amendment) Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2017 was published and initiated in Dáil Éireann on the 22nd November 2017 and it will be enacted quickly through the Oireachtas.
Deputy Brendan Smith said that the reunification of Cavan within one constituency was significant: "In July 2017 I started a campaign to reunite Cavan and emphasised the importance of having Cavan restored as one unit for the future economic and social development of our County. The support of The Anglo-Celt for this campaign was critical in ensuring a wide-spread awareness about the importance of having that major part of west and south Cavan reunited with the rest of the county.”
Many others weighed in on the campaign: “I was glad that other public representatives, Cavan County Council, the ETB, other statutory agencies and voluntary organisations throughout Cavan supported the campaign initiated by The Anglo-Celt and myself,” Deputy Smith said.
He recently called on the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Eoghan Murphy, to introduce legislation to give effect to the recommendations for Dáil Éireann constituencies in the constituency commission report 2017.

In his reply Minister Murphy said the final determination of the constituencies for Dáil Éireann will be a matter for the Oireachtas to prescribe in legislation.