Irish electoral commission recommends TD increase
The commission recommended changes to the Dáil (Irish parliament) due to an increase in population.
At a glance
The Irish electoral commission has recommended changes to the Dáil (Irish parliament) due to an increase in population.
The changes take account of an 8% increase in population since 2016.
The commission recommended an increase of 14 TDs (members of parliament).
Constituencies would also increase from 39 to 43.
- Published
The Irish electoral commission has recommended changes to the Dáil (lower house of Irish parliament) due to an increase in population.
These changes would see the number of TDs (members of parliament) increase to 174 from 160.
They would be elected in 43 constituencies, up from the current 39 .
The changes are to take account of an 8% increase in population since 2016, with more than 5.15m people now living in the Republic of Ireland.
The recommendation was made by the commission in its Constituency Review 2023, which has been submitted to the the Oireachtas (Irish parliament).
Under the Constitution, Ireland should have one TD per 20,000 to 30,000 people.
These changes mean each TD will represent an average of 29,593 people.
Based on the current Dáil of 160 TDs, Ireland is already operating well beyond that with a national average of one TD per 32,182.
A new inter-county constituency of Wicklow-Wexford was recommended
The number of three seat constituencies will increase to 13 from nine.
Some of the smaller parties had called for the creation of more four and five seat constituencies as these can favour smaller parties and independents.
Seven constituencies remain unchanged Clare, Cork South West, Donegal, Dublin Central, Kerry, Limerick County and Waterford.
A new inter-county constituency of Wicklow-Wexford is recommended.
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- Published23 June 2022
