merrion street

Local Government Minister Phil Hogan today received the approval of the Government to the drafting of a Bill to implement the recommendations of the Constituency Commission Report 2012 which was presented to the Ceann Comhairle on 21 June 2012. The report recommended that the number of TDs be reduced to 158 from 166. The number of constituencies will be 40 of which 11 will be 5-seat, 16 will be 4-seat and 13 will be 3-seat.

Minister Hogan said:

This Government is committed to political reform and we have already made a very good start in this area. I have recently completed the legislation which will severely curtail corporate donations and cut the amounts that can be donated to political parties. The same legislation also includes provision that Political Parties that do not select at least 30% women candidates at the next General Election will face losing half of their State funding.

The Dail now sits for longer hours and the holiday periods have been shortened. The Government has recently started the process of setting up the Constitutional Convention and they have commenced the process of legislating for the registration of lobbyists and a charter for whistleblowers. All of these, when finalized, will hopefully assist in restoring public confidence in the political system.