By hand-delivery
9/5/2023

Dear Sir/Madam,

I wish to make a submission in respect of the Laois/Offaly constituency. The population of Laois and Offaly is now 174,325, which is the appropriate figure for 6 Dáil seats. This can be best achieved by having two 3-seat constituencies; one for Laois and one for Offaly.

However, the population of Laois is 9,000 more than the population of Offaly. It is necessary to transfer a population of approximately 4,500 from Laois to the Offaly constituency, to make sure the population per TD is balanced in both counties.

Portarlington town already straddles the county boundary and it makes sense to transfer the population of some of Portarlington, approximately 4,500 people, to the Offaly constituency. It is important to note that there is one townland in the Portarlington South DED, in Laois, which makes up the vast bulk of the 7,856 population in the DED. Therefore it is important that only approximately 4,500 in this area should transfer to the Offaly constituency. If the full DED was transferred, a large number of people would then have to be transferred from county Offaly to the Laois constituency, to make the figures balanced in terms of each of the two new 3-seat constituencies. The Commission must examine this matter in detail to minimise the breaches of the county boundaries and if necessary, consult the local authorities in terms of obtaining the relevant data and information.

Yours sincerely,

John Joe Fennelly