Madam, – Those supporting the idea of a smaller Dáil should consider the effect this change would have on its composition.
Candidates elected to the first and second seats wouldn’t be affected by “cutting the fat” but if we look at which candidates took the final seat in each constituency we can get a sense of how the overall composition might be changed.
If we take one seat off each constituency the Dáil shrinks by 26 per cent. The impact would fall disproportionately across the parties however. In 2007, Sinn Féin would have lost 75 per cent of its seats, Independents 60 per cent, Green Party 50 per cent, but Fine Gael would lose only 27 per cent, Fianna Fáil 21 per cent, Labour 20 per cent. (The two PDs wouldn’t have been affected but 2007 was an exceptional year for the PDs.) Even more interesting is the list of individuals who wouldn’t have been elected. In a 2007 Dáil with one TD fewer per constituency there would have been no John Gormley, Ciaran Cuffe, Beverly Flynn, Jackie Healy Ray, Finian McGrath or Joan Burton.
Another outcome is that Fianna Fáil would have had 50 per cent of the seats in the Dáil: Enough to form a majority government with no Green Party, Independents or PDs. – Yours, etc,