Dear Madam/Sir,

I am writing to you to ask that no changes are made by the Boundary Commission to the Wicklow constituency.

Since having the honour of being elected to the Dáil in 2011 I have served the entire county to the best of my ability. For more than a decade issues raised across the constituency have been dealt with absolute equality regardless of where they originated from.

Any suggestion having the current five deputies based in the north east of the county is a reason for dividing the county is in my view erroneous as it is very much an anomaly thrown up by the last election.

Since the county was expanded to become a five seater in 1992 it has always had deputies representing the west and south of the county. Regardless, during my time in office I have focused on developing projects across the county such as delivering the wastewater treatment plant in Arklow, helping to expand school capacity in Blessington, opening the Primary Care centre in Baltinglass or improving tourist and transport links for Wicklow Town.

Currently, Wicklow has three Government TDs, including two Ministers, who are serving the constituents of the entire county. Any change or potential reduction in the number of TDs is more than likely also going to reduce the number of TDs from Wicklow in Government which, in my view, would reduce their ability to implement improvements for the constituency.

While there is of course much more work to be done the current system has served the county well and will, if left unchanged, continue to do so into the future.

Kind regards,