A Leitrim-based protest group is seeking to raise at least €100,000 to fund a court challenge against a constituency revision that it claims will leave the county without a TD. The Save Leitrim Campaign has decided to proceed with the action after a Government decision to go ahead with the revisions set out in the report last January of the Constituency Commission.
The commission has proposed a revision of the Sligo-Leitrim four-seater constituency, which the group fears will put candidates from Co Leitrim at a disadvantage. North Leitrim will be linked with Co Sligo to a create a new three-seater called Sligo-North Leitrim while South Leitrim will be linked with Roscommon to create another three-seater called Roscommon-South Leitrim.
The secretary of the campaign, Mr Cormac O'Sullivan, said such a division discriminates against Co Leitrim because the county has a population of only 25,000. Candidates from Sligo - population 58,000 - and Roscommon - population 53,000 - would have an automatic advantage in any elections, he said. "The upshot of it all is that unless everybody votes for the same candidate there'll be no Leitrim TD at all," said Mr O'Sullivan.
"What's proposed is that the county with the smallest population is split into two and put in with two more populous partners. On top of that, it's placed into two three-seaters." Mr O'Sullivan is an accountant who says he has no political affiliation. He said the people of Leitrim felt a sense of betrayal after Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael supported revision in their submissions to the commission.
Legal advice suggested the committee might have two options to pursue in the High Court, he said. The first was to take an action on grounds of equality of representation and the danger that Leitrim might not return a TD. The alternative was to challenge the basis of recent constituency reviews in which population shifts have been used to justify "plucking TDs from west to east". While the case cannot be taken until the legislation is enacted, Mr O'Sullivan said the decision to proceed with the case now would give the committee a chance to raise money for its case.
