My reaction to the Electoral Boundary Report

The report of the Dublin & Cities Electoral Boundary Commission was published this afternoon and is available here.

On the positive side, it is great to see that the Dublin 15 area is being given an extra representative, which will mean we now have 9 councillors between the Mulhuddart and Castleknock wards. Our area was severely underrepresented compared to other parts of Fingal as pointed out in the submission I made to the Commission. It is good to see that this issue has now been addressed.

I was somewhat surprised to see the new boundaries that the Commission has created for the Mulhuddart and Castelknock wards. In particular, by adding all areas north of Lucan including Laraghcon to the Mulhuddart ward, the Commission has created a large and somewhat unwieldy ward, stretching all the way from the Ashbourne Road to the banks of the Liffey. Even though Mulhuddart is to receive an extra councillor, it is still going to be a large area for the elected representatives to cover.

Nevertheless, the key issue is that the boundary review has addressed the fact that Dublin 15 was severely underrepresented compared to the rest of Fingal and this has to be welcomed. It will be interesting to see what effects the new boundaries have on candidate selections over the coming months.

Press Release – Greens call for extra seat for Mulhuddart Ward in Council boundary redraw

13/03/08

Dublin 15 Green Party representative, Roderic O’Gorman, has called on the Dublin and Cities Electoral Area Boundary Committee to add an extra seat to the Mulhuddart Ward as part of its review of boundaries in the Fingal County Council area.

“In light of our analysis of the population of the Dublin 15 area after the last census, we are recommending that the Mulhuddart ward gets an extra seat to bring it up to 5 councillors. From the census, the combined population of the Mulhuddart and Castleknock Areas is now 90,974. As Fingal has a population of 239,992 to be shared between 24 councillors, this gives a population of approximately 10,000 per councillor. Therefore, it is clear that the Dublin 15 area is entitled to an overall increase from 8 to 9 seats”, stated Roderic O’Gorman.

“In light of the massive growth in the population of the Mulhuddart ward, which encompasses areas such as Ongar and Littlepace, we believe an extra seat should be given to this ward. This would mean that the population per councillor in Mulhuddart would be -6.61% and in Castleknock +5.83% from the average population per councillor in Fingal. As this is well within the 10% limit prescribed by the guidelines, we would suggest that there needs to be no changes to the actual boundaries of the Mulhuddart or Castleknock ward”.

The submission from the Dublin West Green Party has further stated that the boundary for the Dublin 15 wards should not match the newly drawn boundary for the Dublin West constituency, which runs through the middle of Swords village.

“Like most people, we were shocked by the decision of the Constituency Boundary Commission to change the boundary of Dublin West to include a substantial section of Swords Village. We think this action was a mistake and will need to be revisited in future reviews of the Dail constituency boundaries. As such, we are firmly against any suggestion that the boundary of the Mulhuddart ward should be altered to include areas of Swords”, concluded Roderic O’Gorman.

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Further Information
Roderic O’Gorman: 087 417 9777
rodericogorman@gmail.com

SUBMISSION FROM THE DUBLIN WEST GREEN PARTY TO THE DUBLIN AND CITIES ELECTORAL AREA BOUNDARY COMMITTEE

Press Release – Green Party calls on HSE to fund autism services for Castleknock Educate Together National School

06/03/08

Green Party Dublin 15 representative, Roderic O’Gorman has called on the Health Services Executive to make funding available to supply autism outreach services in Castleknock Educate Together National School.

“After having discussed the problems being encountered in opening the special autism unit with the school management, I’ve written to the HSE to urge it to make resources available to Beechpark Services, which supplies outreach multi-disciplinary services dealing with autism, to Castleknock Educate Together. At my request, Minister Eamon Ryan has joined me in making these representations”, stated Roderic O’Gorman.

“It’s deeply frustrating that this newly opened school, which has a purpose built unit for autistic children, has been unable to operate this unit because the various health support services that these children require have not yet been made available through Beechpark. The school Board of Management has been faced with a difficult choice, but I understand the position that they have taken as these children have more than purely educational needs. As such, it is vital that specialist services are supplied at the same time as the educational services”.

“I would hope that in light of the obvious need for these services by children in the Dublin 15 area, the HSE will swiftly make the necessary funding available to Beechpark Services, which will in turn enable Castleknock ETNS to finally open its autism unit”, concluded Roderic O’Gorman.

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Further Information
Roderic O’Gorman: 087 417 9777