Tuesday 10th January is the deadline for submissions to the above commission. As you may be aware, the community council is of the opinion that the Navan Road area should revert to Dublin Central for the next General Election. The text of that submission is set out below.
Anyone wishing to make their own submission can do so via email or post.
Submissions can be emailed to constituency.commission@housing.gov.ie
or by post to
The Secretary
Constituency Commission
Room 1.65
Custom House
Dublin 1
Further details are at http://www.constituency-commission.ie
“Dear Sir/Madam,
I wish to make the following submission to the current Constituency Commission on behalf of the Navan Road Community Council.
1. That Dublin Central reverts to a four-seater constituency.
2. That the electoral areas of Navan Road, Ashtown A and Ashtown B be returned from Dublin West to Dublin Central.
Following the last Constituency Commission it was decided to remove an area of Swords from Dublin West. In order to maintain Dublin West as a four seat constituency it was decided to carve up Dublin Central and transfer from Dublin Central to Dublin West Ashtown A, Ashtown B and a part of the electoral division of the Phoenix Park.
This was to the detriment of those remaining in the new Dublin Central and residents who were moved into other constituencies.
Dublin Central was redrawn as a three seat constituency. A three seat is not the ideal type of constituency as every effort was previously made by Commissions to minimise the number of these sized constituencies across the country.
The redrawn boundaries also meant that the socio-economic balance of the constituency was upset. There is a concentration of lower socio-economic groups in Dublin Central where the majority of CSO respondents indicated that they were in non-professional groups, mainly D, E, F and G. A proper socio-economic balance needs to be restored.
The changes have also disrupted the socio-economic profile in surrounding constituencies. The removal of areas with higher socio-economic groupings from Dublin Central led to them being added into other constituencies such as Dublin West, which already has a large group who identify themselves as being in the higher socio-economic groups. This will have shifted the balance in that constituency.
New census information shows that a three seat Dublin Central will far exceed the limits allowed in the legislation governing the number of people (30,000) per TD. This will mean that boundary changes are required. Dublin Central should be returned to a four seat constituency.
The division of Dublin Central and the redistribution of the Navan Road area (Ashtown A, Ashtown B) into Dublin West also had other negative consequences.
Firstly, it has resulted in our area being divided into two parts one of which is in Dublin Central and represented by Councillors in Dublin City Council. The other part is in Dublin West but represented by Councillors in Dublin City Council.
In the 2016 General Election no sitting Dublin Central TD contested the election in Dublin West. This left us feeling disenfranchised as the elected TD’s for Dublin West are concentrated and invested in the residents in the original parts of that constituency.
Representing our residents often means liaising with local and national representatives. This has been made much more difficult now that part of our area is represented by TDs with no connection to the Local Authority in Dublin City Council.
This situation was made worse when the local election boundaries were changed placing the Navan Road area into the Cabra/Finglas Ward which covers three General Election Constituencies.
“The Commission is not required to avoid the breaching of the boundaries between the local government counties of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin and between these and Dublin city. However, given that these county administrative boundaries are in place for over 18 years the Commission recommends adherence to these boundaries where this is feasible and practicable”
We would draw your attention to the findings of the previous Commission (see above) in relation to the removal of Swords from Dublin West.and would respectfully request that Ashtown A, Ashtown B and the part of the Phoenix Park be reinstated into a four seat Dublin Central Constituency.”
Navan Road Community Council 