O’ Donovan welcomes establishment of Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee

Added January 17th, 2013

Limerick Fine Gael TD Patrick O’ Donovan has welcomed the establishment of the Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee by Phil Hogan, T.D., Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.

The Committee will review and make recommendations on local electoral area boundaries in the context of the results of census 2011 and the Action Programme for Effective Local Government published on 16 October 2012.  The Minister has asked the committee to report to him as soon as possible and in any event no later than 31 May 2013.

Deputy O’ Donovan said that “the establishment of the Committee is an important next step in implementing the Action Programme for Effective Local Government and in reforming local government structures”.

“This review will be will be very important for Limerick in the context of the decision to merge Limerick County and City Councils the review it will provide the basis for the configuration of the Local Electoral Areas. The Committee is tasked with making recommendations on the division of each council area and the number of members for each”.

“I am glad that the Minister in the terms of reference for the Committee set out that they will also have the specific goal of achieving a much better balance and consistency in representational ratios, while taking particular account of factors such as the location of towns in the new municipal governance arrangement. The terms of reference for the review also ensure that there will be adequate representational and governance provision in lower population areas”.