More TD’s need to be cut. 100 would be more then enough.

Many countries with larger populations than ours have fewer public representatives. nnThis is a step in the right direction. Trimming the fat is good not just from a financial standpoint. It means we’ll have less egos in there too and (hopefully) a more decisive legislation process. Won’t hold my breath though.

Reduce the number of TDs and go further and reduce the salaries of the ones that are left. They are overpaid by any standard.

think they left out a zero after the eight

Double the TD’s and half the wages! Provided by Hanratty’s Logical Solutions (HLS.co.de)

Less representatives leads to a system of less democratic representation. More representatives leads to more costs to the tax payer. Rather than cutting the number of TDs further, surely it would make more sense to maintain the number of TDs and simply pay them less. Less burden on the tax payer and the necessary leverage to renegotiate the banking debt. It seems obvious, am I missing something?

Cut MORE useless TDs!

On the infamous night of the bank guarantee decision, the biggest and most far-reaching decision ever to be inflicted on the Irish people was made by two elected representatives, if my memory serves me correctly. Does this not mean that we have an excess of 164 TD’s?

I don’t know why democracy has to be cut to save money?

Won’t cutting the number of TD’s mean a greater hegemony of the larger parties and make it more difficult for smaller parties and independents to get elected?

Why not cut the wages and pensions of TD’s and ministers by 50% instead of reducing their number?

It just so happens that Fine Gael is pushing this, because it suits them and they can gerrymander constituencies to make it more easier for their candidates to get elected. Don’t be fooled.

Good point , we need to move away from fix my gate politics. The Dail should be for National issues and God knows there are enough of them. Let the local council’s deal with local issues. Also the holidays should be cut dramatically, Europe and Ireland are in a huge crisis and all the politicians are about to feck off on holiday till September.

Reduce to a two tier county/national system.
Restrict holding of office to two terms (in each)
Reduce TDs to one per 100,000 population.
Political office should be a privilege not a career or an opportunity for profit, so maintain current pay levels and require pensions to be carried out privately or through the individuals main career.

Blah, blah, blah, what does it matter, no politician will ever legislate anything like any suggestion made here …

The number of TDs in the Dail is a non-issue having 166 66 or 266 would do little to change anything in the irish political structures. It is window dressing designed to blind people to the real issues. We will spend the next few years debating the numbers in the Dail and gender quotas and in the end change very little an leave us exactly where we are

Would love to see a ‘none of the above’ option on ballot papers. While i agree that people must vote, i would just like the chance to vote that all above candidates are sh.te without spoiling vote.

cut the td numbers in half, stopping tds worrying about local issues ie lowry and healy rae. and increase local councils authority. the dail is a national parliament for national issues. we need to get away from local issues

This is to stop leftwing TD’s and independents from getting elected. Just look at the constituencies targeted, Donegal South, Dublin Central, Dublin North and North East, Dun-Laoghaire, and Tipperary. These are all constituencies with leftwing TD’s or they are constituencies with potential future leftwing TD’s.

Also the population of these areas has increased so there is going to be less representatives per head of population.

This isn’t about reducing costs its about preventing democracy pure and simple.

@ Mark – Yes, lost three yesterday and gave up, surprised it works today and wonder what happened.

This is kind of reform is at the heart of ‘my’ party, so there will be something ‘proper’ to vote for next time round. Will include ‘none of the above’ as part of the new Citizens Charter as well. But the big issue is in making this party open for ordinary common-sense people to become TD’s there won’t really be any s****e on the ballot paper. Sli nios fearr will half the size of the Dail given a chance by the electorate.

This is a totally cosmetic exercise.

If there was a real desire to change then they would be amending the constitution and cutting by at least 50 TDs and consolidating County Councils, Town Councils and City Councils into between 5 – 8 organisations.

However you won’t see Turkeys voting for Christmas!

How long will this sit on a ministers lap before anything is done….!!!!

They could have reduced it by a hell of a lot more…..No more than 100 TD’s should be required considering the population we have….!!!

Abolish that 2nd layer retirement home for the Cronies, The Senate, while they are at it as well.

Not to mention limiting the amount of Advisors to Ministers….!!!!

And while they are at it, get rid of 80% of Quango’s, Reduce Salries Of CS Management over 120,000 by 50%, TDS’s, Advisors, Quango heads also by 50%….!!!

Now that would be real reform….!!

in usa there are 2 for each state, that is 100 in total,, we are the size of new york state, one state out of 50 , and our thieves and liars are paid more than us president, war minister and we dont have th e army for a war just peace keeping,,, our government need to cut wages , no one working for the government should ever make over 100,000, i feel its a decent pay for any man or woman, and they are only educated to teach or be a lawyer,,, we really need to turn them out,

its hard to think why they would introduce this now when more and more people would like representation..i dont think its about saving money but it might be spun that way it may be well like a move on federalizing our government but too early yet to say..cant trust them anymore have to wait and see i suppose there’s always a catch with them..

Expected News Flash!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8 TD’s become senators after scooping large sums of money from Dial redundancy package….

I absolutely agree with cuts to representation fundamentally but am not satisfied with their approach to it.

The number of TDs needs to be slashed significantly further. The number of local/county councils need to be cut and close ones consolidated to serve bigger areas and the Seanad needs to be abolished.

However, what we have here is a pathetically weak approach being taken to show “radical” reforms causing the least disruption as possible. They’re attacking Dublin primarily, the place holding the largest population with te most diverse demographics, and leaving those outside relatively unscathed when in reality, if cuts are going to be made, they should be first aimed at the areas outside the capital with low population density and similar demographics.

Couldn’t do that though now could you? There’d be thousands of culchies marching on Dublin if they felt they were being targeted in any sense screaming about “jackeens” and their hero Jackie Healy Rae.

Much easier to target the areas they know have too much else going on than to be bothered by it.

Do we really need 6 TD’s per county? What are the county councillors for? Surely 2 TD’s per county would be enough.

oh and will be done before they are voted out,, now what about pay cuts,, ok ok,, i can joke, as they are the joke

Anyone else still having random comment posting probs?

I agree with the sentiment of alot of people incompetent morans most of them out to line their own pockets , the cuts should have gone alot further and included massive paycuts and cutting of the majority of their allowances

only 8, they should have went further, we are top heavy with politicians in this country

we have 164 for a small country, and local councillers and the same, we are a small population getting smaller each week, and have no call for that amount is all i am saying, its not like they do anything but banter and jeer and hire in the economists for anything that needs doing or set up another quango to do the work, they dont really do to much anymore as 4 men go into a room and decide what is to be done, that is the new way of politics in our country, and we can get news from germany on what they decide before its even said in the dail,, they are all figure heads with no clout so why are we paying big money for nothing, what they are cutting down on is compitition as they know no one wants ff, fg and def not labour ever again in, we do need independents and that is what is being cut, i believe cut their salaries and spread it about and then we may see real people that care about our country, not men standing in their daddys shoes and their jobs,, as its a good way to get rich scheme in ireland, sorry i am so disillusioned with the way the country is being run, watching a bunch of eejits jeering, slandering, and on about the past,, we only care for the future, and our politicians cant move forward as have no idea what to do, until its to late

I say more, they cost us too much, and even when they retire or lose their seat they still cost us

Slash their wages to the average industrial wage, €30k and then slightly increase the numbers to ensure the larger parties don’t gain. This cut is just an attempt at gerrymandering, nothing to do with saving money.

The uncomfortable truth is that we the electorate get the politicans we vote for, “the fault dear Brutus is not in our stars but within ouselves”. This is a good first move, however the fundamental problem is the voting fodder nature of all non cabinet members in the goverment parties. The opposition are able to comment but not to affect any proposed legislation . We should aim for an effective parlimentary system.

So 72 people believe no cut was needed, good to know that there are TDs using the Journal!

get rid of the lot of them and give more power to local councils after they have been reformed of course.

I think 3 -4 elected members from each county depending on the counties population would be more than enough.

Seems a shame the home constituency Waterford isn’t going to lose one. What are our four doing? Coffey and Conway are low profiling. Deasy doesnt serve and HALLIGAN has gone technical

The newly-elected French parliament has 11 representatives elected by members of the French diaspora. Given the re-emergence of emigration from its shores, surely it’s time that the irish Government gave Irish citizens living abroad the right to exercise their democratic right.

Personally I think there should only be 4 constituencies (Connacht-Ulster,Leinster,Dublin,Munster) with an open party list system and only around 100 TD’s

Cut definitely was not needed… are we the only country that cuts our representative when the population goes up? By the next commission we’ll have to bring the number back up to stay constitutional anyway… such a silly move.

It is about time they cut the numbers, and why don’t they go further and take alot of those people on the dole off the live register, which is the only way that they will gain the people’s trust.

8 politians unemployed after the next election! yeah enda nice work!
another 8 people on the live register.
how is that goin to solve the unemplyment problem