Kilkenny boundary debate threatens to reignite as constituency change looms

A debate on Kilkenny’s boundary with Waterford could soon be back on the table with multiple submissions to the Electoral Commission calling for a transfer of land and voters.

Separating Carlow entirely from Kilkenny, moving parts of Wexford into Kilkenny and splitting up Kilkenny into ‘North’ and ‘South’ and latching them onto other constituencies are just some of the suggestions made to the Electoral Commission, which is set to redraw electoral constituency boundaries in light of population changes. Its report is due in August.

But another common suggestion made by members of the public is to subsume territory from South Kilkenny into Waterford, making that into a five-seat constituency.

The fire was further stoked last week in the Dáil by Waterford TD Matt Shanahan, who urged that the 2017 Boundary Commission’s report, which called for the boundary to be redrawn, to be reissued. He claimed the North Quays development had 'radically strengthened' the case for this.

South Kilkenny representatives have been vocal in their opposition, and made submissions seeking that South Kilkenny is protected in its entirety, that it continues as Kilkenny, and is not subsumed into an adjoining constituency. A number of submissions, including two from Kilkenny county councillors, urge the commission not to put some of Kilkenny into Waterford.

They point out that the preference is to keep county boundaries intact where possible, and that such a move would be even more unusual as it would also breach the Leinster/Munster provincial boundary.

The Electoral Commission invited written submissions in relation to matters which should be considered in reporting on constituencies. The closing date for submissions was May 10, and has now passed.

One submission, from John Butler, says the criteria should be changed rather than the boundaries been redrawn.

“Proper recognition should be given to current and historical boundaries and lessons being learned from errors of the past where portions of counties were shaved off to other constituencies,” he says.

“People have affiliations to their local area, urban, rural, village, town, parish, county and province. In the instance of Kilkenny, no piece should be carved away from it to subsidise the Waterford constituency for the maths.

“County and provincial integrity should be honoured. People in the south of county Kilkenny have an historic affiliation to their area and related representation and do not want the border moved.”

A submission from Patrick Matthews looks at the Waterford constituency (currently four seats) and notes that increasing the number of seats to five would require the inclusion of at least another 14,000 population from either Tipperary or Kilkenny.

He proposes three possible solutions: The transfer of territory from either Carlow or Kilkenny to one of two three-seat constituencies in Wexford, preserving the balance of Carlow–Kilkenny; the transfer of territory from Wexford to Carlow to create a three-seat constituency which would also require population from Kilkenny; or the transfer of territory from Wexford to Kilkenny to create a three-seat constituency, with Carlow taking 28-30,000 population from the north of Kilkenny to create another three-seat constituency.

Another submission suggests the ‘most sensible solution’ is to add some of the Piltown electoral area to Waterford ‘reflecting the fact that urban Waterford extends into Kilkenny’.

Cllr Mary Roche, meanwhile, says that from a Waterford perspective, there is an opportunity to follow the RSES MASP organisation and 2017 Waterford Boundary commission recommendation that envisages the suburban area of the city, currently divided between the Carlow-Kilkenny and Waterford constituencies being brought together.

A submission from Mark Khan opines that, ‘in reality the Piltown district though across the river is connected by two large bridges and much of it is de facto Waterford City and hinterland’. He recommends to transfer this LEA district to Waterford’s constituency to make it a five seater.

Cllr Pat Dunphy notes that one of the strongest guidelines to take account of when deciding on the Dáil and European Parliament Constituency Review is not to cross county boundaries.

NOT ACCEPTABLE
“This carries a strong weighting and I ask the Kilkenny county noundary will not be broken or crossed when reviewing new constituency boundaries,” he says.

“This would not be acceptable in Kilkenny and hope you refrain from doing that.”

Cllr Fidelis Doherty seeks to ensure the Kilkenny section of the constituency remains as is, ‘especially in regards to South Kilkenny, namely the Piltown Municipal District’.

“I wish to seek that Kilkenny’s boundary stays intact and that south Kilkenny is protected in its entirety and continues as Kilkenny and is not subsumed into an adjoining constituency,” she writes.

A number of submissions observe that Carlow has lost out as a smaller part of the five-seat current constituency. They say it usually only has one of the five TDs, and argue for it to become its own three-seater.

The Electoral Commission is required to report not later than three months after the publication by the Central Statistics Office of the final result of the census in respect of the total population of the State. The Commission is expected to make its recommendations known in August or September.