TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen and Minister for the Environment John Gormley "stand accused of acting illegally" by delaying the implementation of the electoral boundary commission report, the Dáil has heard.
In a sharply worded speech Fine Gael environment spokesman Phil Hogan said there was an "unjustifiable delay in giving effect to the recommendations to the Constituency Commission, given that it was approved for drafting by Government on January 30th, 2008".
During a debate on the report, recommending constituency boundary revisions in line with population trends, Mr Hogan claimed the Government had ignored the document and "deliberately delayed its implementation in spite of a High Court judgment in 2007 whereby Judge Frank Clark stated that the Government would be obliged to implement the recommendations of the commission with minimum delay".
The Carlow-Kilkenny TD claimed that the Minister and the Taoiseach "have ignored the commission, statute law, the Constitution and the clear direction of the courts" and "the Green Party seems to be happy to sit idly by and watch this happen under the watchful gaze of one of its own".
Criticising the Taoiseach, Mr Hogan said Mr Cowen "proposed to review the report of the Constituency Commission, placing himself slap bang in the middle" of the Haughey era.
Since the commission was established in 1980, "all its reports have been enacted into law by both Houses without amendment.
"The one exception was in 1988 when the then taoiseach, Charles Haughey, tried to rig the terms of reference by excluding the creation of five-seat constituencies, save only in exceptional circumstances."
Mr Hogan said "the report of that commission was never enacted or even initiated as a Bill as Charles J Haughey led a minority government.
"That was the only occasion in its 28 years when a commission's report was not enacted."
However, Mr Gormley, who introduced the debate, insisted that "it is my firm view that the precedent of adhering to the commission's advice should not be broken".
Mr Gormley said: "We can all recognise that it might have been possible for the commission to suggest solutions other than those recommended in the report.
However, the commission's independent determination of the issues, taking account of submissions made, should be respected.
By cherry-picking individual recommendations we would undermine the reasons for establishing an independent commission in the first place."
Labour environment spokes- man Ciarán Lynch said: "I have full confidence in the independence and integrity of the members who make up the commission.
"However, they are no more infallible than the rest of us, as it seems, unfortunately, some of the recommendations made in the most recent report would seem to indicate."
He believed that "the law should be changed to allow for a two-stage process prior to the finalisation of the report. This could be done by the commission, having considered initial submissions, publishing a draft report and inviting further submissions from the public and interested parties.
"This would at least allow people who believe that a particular recommendation is illogical, irrational or inconsistent with the commission's own terms of reference to make that point.
"The commission would be required to consider such submissions but, of course, would be under no obligation to act on them."
Fine Gael foreign affairs spokesman Billy Timmins believed a constitutional referendum might be necessary for electoral reform. If the population increased by another 750,000 "it will be necessary to change the legislation to increase the number of TDs or amend Article 16.2.2 of the Constitution".
