Trim and Kells to lose county council seat each

Two of Meath County Council"s electoral areas, Trim and Kells, have each lost a seat to other parts of the county in the latest review of the local government election boundaries. The electoral areas which gain a seat each are Dunshaughlin and Slane. It means that, in Trim which currently has five county councillors, at least one would lose out should all seek re-election in the 2009 local elections. Kells currently has six councillors but at least one seat loss is on the cards if all incumbents seek re-election next year. In its analysis of Meath, the electoral boundaries review body said that the level of under-representation in the Dunshaughlin and Slane electoral areas was 'sufficient to justify the allocation of one additional seat each.' In contrast, the population in the Kells and Trim electoral areas is 'no longer sufficient to justify the representation of six and five members, respectively.' The committee recommended the transfer of electoral divisions as follows: l Gallow and Kilmessan, total population 2,026, transferred from the Trim electoral area to the Dunshaughlin electoral area; l the 172 population of Kilbride contained in the Trim electoral area to be transferred to Kells electoral area; l the 608 population of Donaghpatrick contained in the Kells electoral area transferred from the Kells to the Navan electoral area, and l the 20 population of Clonmacduff contained in Trim electoral area transferred from the Trim to the Navan electoral area. The redistribution will mean that the five electoral areas of Meath County Council will continue to have a total of 29 seats as follows: Dunshaughlin, seven seats (currently six); Kells, five seats (currently six); Navan, seven seats (no change); Slane, six seats (currently five), and Trim, four seats (currently five). Population per councillor in the reviewed format would be 5,780 each in the Dunshaughlin electoral area, 5,310 in Kells, 5,646 in Navan, 5,354 in Slane and 5,838 in Trim. Commenting on the changes, the whip of the Fianna Fail group on Meath County Council, Cllr Seamus Murray, Trim electoral area, said that, in terms of representation per member, the four in his area would have the largest number of constituents to represent. In Leitrim, by contrast, a councillor represented 800 people. He said he was disappointed at the loss of a seat in his own electoral area. In the Kells electoral area, FF councillor Bryan Reilly also was disappointed that just five councillors would have to cover a huge area stretching from Oristown across to Athboy, Kilskyre, Oldcastle, Mullagh, Kilmainhamwood and Drumconrath. Cllr Reilly had made a submission on the boundaries review suggesting that the allocation of seats should not be based on population figures alone. His Kells electoral area colleague, Cllr Eugene Cassidy of Fine Gael, said he, too, was very disappointed at the loss of a seat from this electoral area.