COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, May 14, 2012

MOTION NO.12

MOTION: Councillor D. Looney

That this Council calls on the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to set in place a Boundary Committee for Local Electoral Areas as soon as possible; to ask such a committee/s to report by January 2013; and to consider fixing local electoral boundaries for a set period with alterations made to seat numbers rather than boundaries unless necessary.

REPORT:

The last Boundary Committees for Local Electoral Areas were established in January 2008 to review Local Electoral Areas.   The review was considered necessary to take account of the changes in population that had taken place since the last similar review in 1998. The committees were as follows:

Dublin and Cities Electoral Area Boundary Committee reporting on the areas of Dublin City, Cork City, Galway City, Limerick City, Waterford City, and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin County Councils.

Electoral Area Boundary Committee reporting on the county councils outside of Dublin as well as on Drogheda, Sligo, Bray and Dundalk.

The Committees were required to report to the Minister and their reports, which were published in June 2008, were considered as the basis for a revision of the Local Electoral Areas for use at the 2009 local elections. 

The review culminated in the signing of a number Local Electoral Area Orders, including the County of South Dublin Local Electoral Area Order 2009, which amended the division of South Dublin County into Local Electoral Areas and fixed the number of members to be elected for each Electoral Area.

If the motion is passed a copy of the members' sentiments will be conveyed to the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government.