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Two extra council seats for Mulhuddart?
by Martin Ryan

The question of political under-representation for the Dublin 15 area has raised its head yet again with calls from Sinn Féin and the Green Party for an extra representative in the Mulhuddart ward.

The Boundary Committee is currently taking submissions on the matter. While Green Party representative, Roderic O’Gorman, calls for an extra seat, Sinn Féin’s Paul Donnelly believes that an increase of 2 councillors in the Mulhuddart ward is justified.

Sinn Fein is proposing that the overall number of council seats in the county should increase from 24 to 27. But notwithstanding the merits of a broader increase, the changing nature of the population distribution affects the spread of political representatives, not least in the expanding Mulhuddart area.

The Green Party is at one with Sinn Féin on the need for extra representation in Mulhuddart. Roderic O’Gorman points out that “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.”

Sinn Fein goes somewhat further though in looking for two extra seats in Mulhuddart and a significant reconfiguration of the various wards in the county to reflect shifting population trends.

Cllr. Paul Donnelly, successor to Felix Gallagher in the Castleknock-Mulhuddart area, says that "our proposal would see three new councillors for Fingal, with two of those going to the Mulhuddart ward. The current situation is that there are 13,327 people per councillor in Mulhuddart, whereas the Howth ward has only 6,684 people. Sinn Féin’s Paul Donnelly

“This disparity and inequality must end. In real terms what this means is that not only is Blanchardstown under-represented but it also gets a raw deal in terms of Council funding. This affects roads, playgrounds, parks and every area of Council responsibility.”

The Sinn Féin proposal would see the wards of Howth and Malahide being amalgamated and in effect losing a seat, while additional seats would be allocated to Mulhuddart (2), Balbriggan (1) and Swords (1).

According to Cllr. Donnelly, “this would create a much more representative council and the people of Dublin 15 would no longer be short-changed. The inequity that has prevailed over the last decade must not be allowed to continue."

The Green Party’s Roderic O’Gorman is also concerned at any possible aligning of the council boundaries with the proposed new boundary of the Dublin West Dáil constituency which extends as far as 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 Dáil 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".

Naturally it has been pointed out that - especially in the case of the Sinn Féin submissions – that this is merely a bit of attempted gerrymandering to raise representation in areas where the party might directly benefit rather than a genuine desire to reflect population. While it is true to say that Sinn Féin has a seat in the Mulhuddart ward and not in Castleknock the figures do back up the views being offered by Dublin 15’s local representatives.

The Dublin 15 area has a population of 90,000 which is almost 40 per cent of the overall numbers in the county while its council representation is at 33 per cent. While this may not appear an enormous discrepancy, it is also true that the population trend in this area is upwards unlike other areas such as Howth and Malahide. The gap between representation and population appears likely to grow.

With regard to the local area, the Sinn Féin proposal would see Mulhuddart with 6 councillors and Castleknock remaining with 4 representatives. However this may grate with some locals, again the figures appear to favour this possibility. Of the 90,000 living in the area, almost 60% live in the Mulhuddart electoral ward and it would seem that this trend will continue as the main areas of expansion in the Dublin 15 area lie in this community.

Currently, the ratio of representation in Castleknock is 1 councillor for 9,417 people, while in Mulhuddart it is 1:13,327. If Mulhuddart changed to a 6 seater this ratio would become 1:8,884, just 600 under the Castleknock figure. The gap between the two wards currently is over six times this figure in Castleknock’s favour.

Even under the Sinn Féin proposals which would see the merging of Howth/Malahide and the overall loss of a seat between these two wards, they would still have marginally greater representation than either Castleknock or even Mulhuddart under the new arrangements.

While overall representation in the county of Fingal is poor compared to many areas of the country - 1 councillor for 10,000 residents – which is half the national average, the actual locations of the councillors does not sit comfortably with population statistics.

There is a cast-iron case for some extra representation in Mulhuddart but it is not expected that this will stretch as far as the scenario envisaged by Sinn Féin. Population trends, however, make it inevitable that this will be revisited sooner rather than later.

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