*Timmy Dooley studies the tallies. Photograph: Joe Buckley
KEEPING CLARE’S entire geographic boundary intact is the right move according to politicians in the county.
Recommendations issued by the Electoral Commission on Wednesday morning will see Clare remain as a four-seat constituency comprising of the entire county.
Three different scenarios had been touted including the potential of a section of South Clare moving into Limerick, part of East Clare joining the Tipperary constituency or a cohort of North Clare falling under the Galway West umbrella.
Instead, the Electoral Commission have opted to keep Clare as is, a move which has been welcomed by Clare’s politicians.
Clare TD, Michael McNamara (IND) told The Clare Echo, “As a TD for Clare, I am honoured to represent all of County Clare, and I am happy the county boundaries will be respected for the next election. Changing the boundary was an objective of the Electoral Commission but is not one that they managed to achieve”.
Redrawing of the boundaries proved to be the impetus for Cathal Crowe TD (FF) to contest the 2020 General Election and he confirmed to The Clare Echo he will be seeking re-election following the decision to make no changes to the Clare constituency.
Deputy Crowe commented, “It makes so much sense and I think that nationwide they’ve taken the sensible decision to keep county boundaries intact insofar as possible. The inclusion of the Parteen, Westbury, Shannon Banks, Ardnacrusha area in the constituency five years ago was a major factor in me deciding to go for election. I felt that when this corner of Clare was in the Limerick constituency it gave me a very weak starting point when launching an election bid and the inclusion of these communities made it possible for me to run and successfully win a seat in 2020.
“There’s a heightened sense of county identity along the border areas of the county and I think most people are very relieved that – particularly in my home parish – that the county boundary is being held intact. I intend to run for re-election the next time out and I think aligning the constituency fully with the county boundary makes it a more level playing pitch for all candidates and parties contesting the next election”.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Violet-Anne Wynne (IND) outlined that she was happy not to lose any part of the constituency but raised concerns. “When you look at all of the new constituencies created and put it into perspective with the variance, we have a variance of 8.08% which is not ideal which means Clare constituents will be under-represented until the next Census which is disappointing. We have one of the highest variances of all the constituencies, I can’t see how electoral commission has delivered this outcome which is not equitable in my eyes. It does not include the new constituents (international protection applicants) that we have seen arrive in Clare, the Census was done before they were able to come and Clare having the fourth highest in the country, none of that has been taken into account”.
She warned that while Clare currently has seven Oireachtas members, the county is not guaranteed to be have three sitting Senators at any time. “At the moment we have seven Oireachtas members, we know from election to election that it is not guaranteed so the Clare constituents may not have access as freely going forward based on the next election and how it shows itself”.
Wynne confirmed that she would also contest the next election. “I will stand again that is absolutely certain, I entered politics for what I believed are the right reasons and for me that is representing the marginalised and under-represented, huge amount to be done for those constituents, I feel my job is not done and that is why I will be standing again”.
Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) in a statement said he was “delighted that the boundary commission has decided to retain the current constituency of Clare as the full county”. He claimed attempts were made in submissions to remove parts of East Clare from the constituency, an area where he would poll strongly, “there was a big effort made to take Killaloe, O’Briensbridge, Ogonelloe, Scariff, Mountshannon and Whitegate into North Tipperary”.
