'shambolic, incompetent and shameful'

That's Tevor Sargent's view of Minister Dick Roche and his mismanagement of the electoral system. In addition to the Government's failure to revise constituency boundaries on the basis of Census results Sargent cited a long line of self-serving, undemocratic decisions which include the persistence with e-voting and the Government's refusal to hold a Saturday election.

Speaking on Saturday at the launch of Roderic O Gorman's campaign in Dublin West. Sargent also warned of that legal challenges from candidates who narrowly miss out on winning a seat in the coming General Election are now likely. He is talking here about Joe Corr and Roderic O Gorman as they are in two of the affected constituencies and had this to say:

The present situation, whereby TDs in Dublin West and Dublin North
represent, on average, 31,000 people each, is inequitable, unjust and
unconstitutional. It compounds the under-representation problem in Fingal
County Council, where there are 10,000 people for each Councillor, compared
to other counties in which there are as few as 1,200 people for each
Councillor. The people of Fingal are grossly under-represented at local and
national level.

Check out Roderic O Gorman's account of the launch. He first went canvassing with Trevor Sargent when he was 10!