Mayo FG councillor wants constituency boundaries redrawn

A FINE Gael member of Mayo County Council is initiating a campaign to redraw the Mayo and Galway West constituency boundaries.

Councillor Patsy O’Brien has hit out that the vast majority of the 7,500 voters in south Mayo do not want to be part of Galway West and they have expressed the view to him that the county boundaries should be restored when it comes to voting in the next general election.

There was frustration and apathy among voters in areas such as Ballinrobe, Kilmaine and Garrymore when they saw a ballot paper that contained 19 Galway candidates and just one from Mayo, John O’Mahony, who failed to win a seat for Fine Gael.

Councillor O’Brien has submitted a notice of motion in respect of the matter for consideration at the April meeting of the authority.

The Hollymount-based representative told The Connaught Telegraph: “When I canvassed for John O’Mahony in south Mayo, it was an issue on nearly every doorstep. They could not understand why they were being asked to vote for people they did not know.

“I know a decision was taken by the last government to reduce the number of TDs, but the way in which the constituency commission went about it was wrong. The reality is that voters in south Mayo want to get back to voting in the Mayo constituency and it’s as simple as that.

“The 2016 general election was a complete disaster as far as the electorate in south Mayo was concerned and it has now been left without a Mayo-based TD. That’s not democracy. A new commission needs to be appointed by the incoming government to address the issue of constituencies crossing county boundaries.”