Donegal set to lose TD

Added: 21-06-2012 09:57:46

Donegal is to lose one of its six TDs since the county can no longer sustain two three-seat constituencies, a report just published has recommended.

In the Constituency Commission Report, published a short time ago, it was recommended that nine of the county’s electoral divisions in the south of the county with a population of 8,779 should be transferred to the Sligo/Leitrim constituency and the rest of the county should form a five-seat constiuency.

The report stated the Donegal constituencies were a “particular concern because of the coincidence of population change with the mandatory reduction of seats and the particular configuration of county boundaries” and said a “specific feature of the area is the fact that Donegal is unique in being contiguous with only one other county namely, Leitrim” which “limits the options for constituency arrangement in comparison with other parts of the country.”

It added: “The existing arrangement of constituencies must be changed because in a 158 member Dáil the Donegal population can no longer sustain two 3-seat constituency.”

So far, Donegal Senator Jimmy Harte has said he “welcomed” the findings of the report and added: “For too long Donegal has been split into two three-seaters and areas like St. Johnston were part of Donegal South-West, which meant that the closest TD to them is over 50 miles away.

“The proposed changes will give the Finn Valley area more clout in electing a TD and a five0-seat constituency in Donegal will help smaller parties gain representation."

Read the report via RTE here.