Cavan-Monaghan reunited... with a little of Meath-East

The Constituency Commission has decided to reverse its controversial decision of 2012 by reuniting the counties of Cavan-Monaghan, once again granting it five seats in Dail Eireann. However, the move is certain to continue with some debate after it was only done with the addition of a portion of the population of neighbouring Meath-East.

A decision had been due on or before July 6 next week, and the reunification of the constituency follows joint campaign on the matter by local Fianna Fail TD Brendan Smith, The Anglo-Celt, with the support of local TD's and Senators, Cavan County Council and its members, as well as local businesses among others.

Deputy Smith welcomed the news, telling this newspaper: “Its is a victory. It was a wrong decision to start out with and I am delighted they have reversed it.” Deputy Niamh Smyth hailed the decision as common sense and described the move as a boost for people living in West Cavan, who she claims felt alienated by the previous decision which forced them to deal with public representatives that were based in other counties.  

The Constituency Commission announced that it had presented its report on Dáil and European Parliament constituencies to the Chairman of Dáil Éireann.

The members of the Commission were – Mr. Justice Robert Haughton, of the High Court, who was nominated by the Chief Justice to be chairperson of the Commission. The other members were: Mr. Peter Finnegan, Clerk of the Dáil; Mr. Peter Tyndall, the Ombudsman; Mr. John McCarthy, Secretary General of the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government; and Mr. Martin Groves, Clerk of the Seanad who replaced Ms. Deirdre Lane on the Commission in October 2016.

The Commission was set up on July 14 last year following the publication, by the Central Statistics Office, of ‘Census of Population 2016 Preliminary Results’. The Commission was required to present its report not later than three months after the publication by the CSO of the final result of the 2016 Census, published on April 6 this year.

As part of its recommendations, Commission says: “The counties of Cavan and Monaghan, with some population from the constituency of Meath East, should form the Cavan-Monaghan constituency which should become a 5 seat constituency. The rest of the constituency of Meath East should remain as a 3 seat constituency. The constituencies of Meath West (3 seat), Louth (5 seat) and Longford-Westmeath (4 seat) should remain unchanged.”

The counties of Sligo and Leitrim will continue to include some population from south Donegal, with the addition of some population from county Roscommon to form the 4 seat Sligo-Leitrim constituency.