The move of Portarlington and surrounding areas into Kildare South could result in Kildare having eight TDs with Laois left with just two.
That’s the concern of Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley who says it is up to Fianna Fáil to do something to block the proposed change before it is enacted into legislation.
In response to the latest change to the Laois constituency boundary by the Boundary Commission, Deputy Stanley said: “What’s being proposed is the butchering of the Laois constituency and county boundaries. To make matters worse they also propose taking large areas out of two municipal districts – Portarlington/Graiguecullen in Laois and Edenderry in Offaly and transferring them to Kildare.
“The people of Laois may finish up with only two TDs in the Dáil while Kildare is guaranteed to have eight! The residents of Portarlington, Killenard and Ballybrittas will be denied the right to vote for a Laois TD or to be represented by a Laois person in the next Dáil if the changes go ahead,” he said.
“Fianna Fáil have been generating a bit of hot air on this issue recently, but the real question for them is, will their TDs vote for it in the Dáil? The boundary changes can’t be implemented without a vote in our Parliament and Fianna Fáil have the power to prevent it going through if they are serious about it,” Deputy Stanley said.
Meeting
A public meeting organised by Fianna Fáil in Portarlington on Monday night agreed to lodge a formal objection to the constituency boundary changes which moves Portarlington and the surrounding areas into Kildare.
However, at that meeting, Deputy Sean Fleming said while he did not agree with the changes, he felt there was little they could do about it.
It was felt that the constituency boundary would be reviewed again after the next census and the anticipated population increase in Laois.
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