Madam, - Over the next few weeks we will have to listen to a lot of legal, constitutional and technical arguments about the merits and demerits of holding another boundary revision in advance of the next general election.
As a candidate in that election I admit to having an interest in this matter. Nonetheless, one cannot but remark on the striking discrepancy between the census figures for 2006 and those used for the purpose of drawing the current Dáil boundaries. Dublin West with a population of 92,800 is a three-seat constituency while Cork North-Central, with the lower population of 91,368, has four seats. Dublin North, a four-seater, has a population of 119,984 while Dún Laoghaire and Dublin South, both five seaters, have populations of 113,936 and 118,545 respectively. Surely anyone can see that electing a government using the current boundaries would not have a democratic mandate. Between the wrong boundaries and the inaccurate registers, election 2006 could be the least democratic election in Ireland since the abolition of the rotten boroughs in 1896. - Yours, etc,
Cllr LEO VARADKAR, Castleknock, Dublin 15.