Counties Cavan and Monaghan will remain as a five-seat constituency. That's according to a report delivered by the Electoral Commission this morning in one of the most significant re-drawings of election areas in the history of the State.
Seven electoral divisions located in the northern part of Co Meath were recommended for transfer to the Meath East constituency, meaning that the Cavan-Monaghan constituency would return to its tradition of holding five seats. According to the report, the Cavan-Monaghan constituency now has a population of 151,177, an increase of 6.8% from the 2016 Census.
Reacting to this morning's constituency report recommendations, Fianna Fail TD, Deputy Niamh Smyth says it will bring "extra responsibility" to all five TDs across Cavan and Monaghan.
She told Northern Sound it was a "pleasant surprise" to see the unification of Cavan and Monaghan. Despite concerns of an unfair advantage to Co Cavan, with three out of five local representatives from the Breffni area, Deputy Smyth believes any concerns will only drive local TDs like herself to act in the fairness of both counties and divide supports evenly.
"So naturally enough, I am pleasantly surprised to see Cavan and Monaghan staying united," explained Deputy Smyth. "We are as one for our garda division, our education and training boards, and for electoral purposes, and this is a tradition that goes ways back long before my time."
While the constituency of Cavan-Monaghan will now remain as a five seat constituency for the next five years, Deputy Smyth has described this morning's announcement as a positive day for the Northern Sound region.
Meanwhile, Minister Heather Humphreys described the recommendations as "very positive". she said it was "preferable" when county boundaries are not breached and from speaking to people in North Meath, they too will be glad to return to their own traditional base in the Meath East constituency at the next election.
She added that today's report is essentially a "return" to the traditional Cavan-Monaghan five-seat Constituency which had been in place for many years.
Also commenting on the report, Deputy Brendan Smith told Northern Sound that he previously made a detailed submission to the Commission last May stressing the need to retain the entirety of both counties of Cavan and Monaghan as one constituency.
"I also proposed that the part of North Meath, in our constituency at present, should be returned to County Meath for electoral purposes," explained Deputy Smith. "My analysis of the population of both Cavan and Monaghan clearly showed that we had sufficient population in Cavan and Monaghan to retain a 5-seat constituency on our own.
"A large part of West and South Cavan was transferred to the Sligo/Leitrim/Donegal constituency in the 2014 boundary review. After the publication of the census in 2017 I led a campaign to have Cavan reunited as one unit with County Monaghan for Dáil constituency purposes. That campaign was successful and I strongly believe that there should be minimal breaching of county boundaries."
