Mayo should be whole county for Dáil elections
MAYO should be a whole county for future Dáil elections, returning a section in the south that was moved into the Galway West constituency.
The call by Councillor Patsy O'Brien, by way of a motion at a meeting of Mayo County Council, was supported by his council colleagues. Deputy Michael Ring also came out in support of the call ahead of the monthly meeting.
The motion asked the council to write to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to request that Mayo be left as an entire county for future Dáil elections and be included for consideration in the forthcoming terms of reference, the guidelines for which allows for Dáil representatives to be increased from 160 to 179.
This would mean Mayo is returned from a four to a five-seater constituency.
After the foundation of the State, Mayo had 13 TDs. By 2011 it had been cut to five.
Then, in 2013, 10,000 people were lost when transferred into Galway West, including the town of Ballinrobe. Half of them were turned in 2020.
Councillor O'Brien said having TDs straddling two local authority areas wasn't fair or feasible.
He was making his plea to ensure rural Ireland gets its maximum number of TDs in the Dáil.
Mayo should have the five TDs it deserves.
Councillor Michael Burke said the people in south Mayo get great service from their public representatives. However, most of the 5,000 people in Galway West have an affinity to Mayo County Council and their previous TDs and senator.
It was agreed the wording on the motion be amended to ask that the county boundaries be retained where possible, to meet the terms of reference.
Councillor Gerry Murray said Dáil constituencies should be based on local authority areas.
It was in everyone’s interest to have the maximum number of Oireachtas members and working collectively.
It was ridiculous, commented Councillor Tom Connolly, that a part of Mayo had gone into Galway.
Councillor O'Brien complimented Deputy Ring for saying that Mayo should be returned as one county and he called on the other three Dáil deputies to do the same.
He commented after the meeting: "In my opinion, no elected representative should have to deal with two different local authorities and I have often referred to the south Mayo area as a political island.
"I am now calling for immediate action to have Cong, Cross, The Neale, Kilmaine, Gortjordan, Ballycushion, Shrule, Glencorrib and Killroe brought back to vote in Mayo for the next general election."