Constituency Boundary Review

For there to be an acceptable three-seater, the ideal population is 87,000 with the average population per Dáil seat to be 29,000.

The coastal towns in north Dublin have 73,734 population as per 2022 figures made up of

Town	Population
Donabate	11,702
Lusk	10,646
Rush	11,042
Holmpatrick	4,173
Skerries	8,879
Balbriggan Rural	19,167
Balbriggan Urban	8,125

This in the aggregate is an increase of over 8,000 since 2016 census, so very rapidly growing and for the first time getting near three seat population.

The six rural divisions have in aggregate a population of 9,018.

Town	Population
Balscadden	744
Hollywood	1,499
Garristown	1,793
Clonmethan	958
Killsallaghan	2,427
Ballyboghil	1,597

The total of these two blocks is 82,752, which may be enough to form a three-seat constituency, allowing for 5% growth enabling consistency for the new constituency.

The following are the current planning permissions for the Balbriggan /Rush-Lusk/Swords administration areas – 22 non active sites with 3491 units granted and not commenced including 4 SHD sites with 1859 unity.  Assuming 2.5 people per household that would add significantly to a Fingal North constituency.

The five electoral divisions that are called Swords have an aggregate population of 45,797. This is 1.5 seats. So, either Swords would have to be split in two to keep it partly with north Fingal in a 4-seat arrangement or an extra 15,000 population would need to be found.

I would strongly be opposed to splitting Swords in any shape or form.  It is a vibrant growing strong knit community and the division for the 2011 poll served no positive result whatsoever. It dissuaded people from voting in a constituency it has not ties or connections with other than its local authority.

Assuming a Fingal North constituency, the balance of the current Fingal constituency would in fact merit three seats. If 82,742 form Fingal North, there are 87,948 people in the balance of the current Fingal constituency, enough for three seats.