The return of big townland to the Tipp constituency could have a huge impact on election

The Newport/Birdhill area will be back within the bounds of the Premier County for the 2024 General Election, after falling into the Limerick City boundaries in the previous election back in 2020.

At the time, there was huge opposition locally to the re-drawing of the boundaries around the area, with all of the constituents extremely annoyed with the fact that they would be voting for candidates out of county.

In the summer of 2023, thousands of the electorate within the Newport and surrounding areas were hoping for a reversal of their transfer to voting in a Limerick constituency for the next General Election, and they claimed that they were effectively disenfranchised by the change in the Electoral Commission Dáil constituencies review at the time - people in North West Kilkenny could be saying the same thing this time around.

More than 3,000 voters in the Newport, Birdhill and Ballinahinch areas were added to the adjoining Limerick City Constituency as part of the revision enlarging county Tipperary to one five-seater constituency back in 2017.

Thousands of the voters in the area then called for a reversal of the change in submissions to the Electoral Commission of Dáil Constituencies that reviews the electoral boundaries.

One of the submissions to this body had the signatories, describing themselves as “concerned citizens”, petitioning that they were not consulted on the changes that they said, “ flies in the face of common sense” and requested a change back to Tipperary before the next General Election.

The changes in 2017 transferred the electorate in three large adjoining District Electoral Divisions, involving the residents of 57 townlands to the constituency of Limerick City for general elections.

Amongst those who were vocal in their dismay at the situation was Alan Kelly TD maintains that he lost out significantly on his strong support in the previous election, consequent to his proximity to the area and the electoral popularity of his cousin, Cllr Fiona Bonfield, a Newport resident.

The decision on constituency changes were finally announced back in September of 2023 where the Newport/Birdhill area was re-introduced into the Tipperary North electorate for next weekend’s election, along with the announcement of Tipperary being split into North and South constituencies.

It was a firmly welcomed development for outgoing Labour TD for Tipperary Alan Kelly and he reiterated that it should never have been moved in the first place.

“It was a significant issue for us – Fiona lives up there and I’m from nearby. Electorally it was a huge hit for us but also the people up there want to be in Tipperary – they didn’t want to be in Limerick (for Dáil elections).

“I know what it’s like, I’ve seen the people up there being so disenfranchised. Constantly coming to myself and Fiona for support and looking for help on various different issues even though they can’t vote for us,” he said.

What that news meant and means for the upcoming election is that some 4,600 voters have been reinstated into the Tipperary North constituency which will be a big benefit to Kelly in his efforts to be re-elected who would have large support in the area.

A big part of Fine Gael’s move to have Dr Phyll Bugler run for a seat in the election was because of the re-draw of boundary lines with Bugler having a big presence in local politics having been elected to the Newport Local Electoral Area once again earlier in the summer, and her profile will bring a degree of familiarity with voters and a presence to go with it on polling day.