We’re Terenure middle class – get us out of Dublin South Central!
A SOUTH Dublin residents' association wants its neighbourhood moved into the next constituency because local TDs don't pay enough attention to "middle-class" concerns.
Residents in Terenure insist they should be in Dublin South-East rather than Dublin South-Central because of their "cultural affinity" to the former constituency.
Dublin South-East includes areas such as Donnybrook, Sandymount, Merrion, Ranelagh and Rathmines. Dublin South-Central takes in places like Crumlin, Dolphin's Barn, Drimnagh, Inchicore and Ballyfermot.
The arguments are outlined in a submission by the Association of Residents of Terenure (ART), which represents 300 households in the north-west of the village, to the constituency commission, which is redrawing the boundaries of Dail constituencies.
The commission has also been tasked with reducing the number of TDs from 166 to a level between 153 and 160. The deadline for submissions from interested parties was yesterday and the final report is expected around June.
In its January 8 letter, the ART said: "The current constituency boundary has left us at a great disadvantage because the make-up of the public representatives who have been elected to our constituency do not, in general, seem to feel they represent the 'middle class' suburb of Terenure and instead draw their support from, and give their attention to, the western part of the constituency."
It adds that the village "falls between two stools" after it was split in two in 1991, with part falling into Dublin South-East and the rest into Dublin South-Central.
Terenure is the focus of a large number of the 360 submissions made before the deadline closed yesterday, with most complaining that the village had been split in two and moved away from Rathmines.
The ART said the north-west of Terenure was "cut off from its natural association with Dublin South-East and in an electoral district with which it has no logical affinity".
The TDs for Dublin South-East are Education Minister Ruairi Quinn; European Affairs Minister Lucinda Creighton; Labour's Kevin Humphreys and Fine Gael's Eoghan Murphy.
The Dublin South-Central TDs are Aengus O Snodaigh of Sinn Fein; People Before Profit Alliance TD Joan Collins; Fine Gael's Catherine Byrne and Labour's Eric Byrne and Michael Conaghan.
- Fiach Kelly Political Correspondent
Irish Independent
