Where is the equality of representation?
Even before the first leaflet was pushed through a letterbox or the first billboard unveiled there were serious problems this year with the 26-County electoral system. The first issue was an electoral register that was seriously at variance with the actual adult population across the 42 constituencies, lifetime voters taken off the register, new ones not put on. Then there is the significant and ongoing demographic change throughout Irish society, particularly in the Dublin constituencies, driven by a rapid increase in house building and changing migration patterns that has left some constituencies technically over represented and others with too few TDs. Dublin West has 30,967 voters per TD compared to Dun Laoghaire which as 22,833 voters per TD. With over 70,000 new dwellings being built annually over the last five years, in electoral terms it’s the equivalent of adding a new four seat constituency to the Dáil every year. So how do we ensure that each TD has the same number of consti
