The Irish Government must “urgently review” the electoral boundaries ahead of the European elections in 2019, MEP Mairead McGuinness has warned.
The First Vice-President of the European Parliament is calling for the revision as Ireland is due to gain two more MEP seats – bringing the total number to 13.
The dates of the European elections were confirmed by a vote of the parliament’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs, of which McGuinness is a member, in Strasbourg last Monday (Monday, April 16).
Although McGuinness welcomed clarity on the date – which will be further confirmed by a plenary vote today – she is urging the Irish Government to focus on “new electoral boundaries” for candidates.
I would call on the Irish Government to urgently look at Ireland’s electoral boundaries, given the re-distribution of seats that was approved by the parliament last February.
“Ireland will be increasing its representation in the European Parliament to 13 MEPs – up from 11 – which will necessitate a boundary change.”
The situation arises from the decision of the UK to leave the EU; which means that no UK representatives will be elected to the European Parliament next year. UK members are expected to leave the parliament on March 30 next year.
“A decision has been taken to redistribute some of the UK seats to restore a balanced distribution of seats among EU member states in the new legislature, without any member state losing any seats,” said McGuinness.
The vice president said that there are “several possibilities” for new constituency boundaries; however, she said this work needs to be carried out by the Constituency Commission which needs to be mandated to redraw boundaries “sooner rather than later”.
Today, we have three European constituencies – Dublin with three seats, Midlands-North West with four seats and South with four seats – how the new boundaries will be drawn will depend on population base and representation.
“Given the additional two seats; there will have to be boundary changes and it would be important that these new boundaries are drawn as soon as is practical,” she concluded.