Call to return all of Roscommon to one electoral constituency

All of county Roscommon should be returned and united into one three-seater constituency for electoral purposes.

That's the opinion put forward by Fianna Fáil Senator Eugene Murphy, in a recent submission to the review of the constituencies being conducted by the Electoral Commission.

Following the last constituency review in 2017 over 7,000 people around Boyle and west of Carrick on Shannon were shifted into the Sligo-Leitrim consituency, a move the Fianna Fáil Senator has claimed “disenfranchised” people in North Roscommon as “no TD lived in that part of the constituency”. Areas like Boyle, Keadue, Ballyfarnan and Arigna etc moved into the Sligo-Leitrim electoral boundary, while the remainder of county Roscommon is in the Roscommon/Galway constituency.

“I acknowledge that those elected did represent the area of North Roscommon but many living in the area felt unrepresented because of the geography of the region,” Senator Murphy said in his submission.

“It is essential therefore that you give serious consideration to reestablishing Co Roscommon as one county,” he urged, asking the commission to also consider the county as one constituency only because of its length, at 79 km long.

Prior to the 2017 Constituency Commission, the Roscommon/Galway constituency included parts of Galway such as Ballinasloe, Ahascragh, Newbridge, Caltra, Castleblakeney, Glenamaddy, Ballygar, Glinsk, Kilkerrin and Creggs.

However, following the 2017 commission report, an additional 8,650 people who were previously in the Galway East constituency were transferred to Roscommon/Galway.

The extra area covered places like Aughrim, Mountbellew, Kilconnell and parts of the Tuam hinterland including Dunmore and Clonbern.

“This is a very rural landscape and I feel it should be a three seater/one constituency simply known as Co Roscommon. The population has now increased to almost 70,000 people and because of that and its mainly rural make up I feel quite strongly that the county is entitled to 3 TDs,” the Senator argued in his submission to the review of the boundaries.

The commission will have until the end of August deliver its report on the review of Dáil and European Parliament constituencies following the publication of final result of Census 2022 on May 30th last. According to the latest figures, the population of Roscommon has grown by 9%, to reach 70,259, with the number of people in the county rising by 5,715 between April 2016 and April 2022.

Under the terms of their deliberations, the commission is asked that each constituency has three, four or five TDs and to ensure "the breaching of county boundaries shall be avoided as far as practicable".

The body can increase the number of TDs in the Dáil from the current 160 to between 171 and 181.

The Constitution of Ireland currently stipulates that there should be Dáil Deputy for every 20,000 to 30,000 people.