Dáil and European Parliament Constituency Review

The Date for Submissions Has Now Passed

The Electoral Commission invited written submissions in relation to matters which should be considered in reporting on constituencies.

The closing date for submissions was 10 May, 2023 and so has now passed.

You can read the submissions made on this website.

Note that all submissions to the Commission along with the name of the person making the submission will be published on the Commission’s website at electoralcommission.ie. The Electoral Commission is required to report not later than three months after the publication by the Central Statistics Office of the final result of the Census in respect of the total population of the State.

The Electoral Commission in accordance with section 56 of the Electoral Reform Act 2022 and following the publication of the 2022 Census Preliminary results is to make a report and recommendations in relation to the constituencies for (a) the election of members to the Dáil and (b) the election of members of the European Parliament.

1. In relation to Dáil constituencies, the Commission is required, in observing the relevant provisions of the Constitution:

Article 16.2.2˚ of the Constitution provides that: “The number of members shall from time to time be fixed by law, but the total number of members of Dáil Eireann shall not be fixed at less than one member for each thirty thousand of the population, or at more than one member for each twenty thousand of the population.”

Article 16.2.3˚ of the Constitution provides that: “The ratio between the number of members to be elected at any time for each constituency and the population of each constituency, as ascertained at the last preceding census, shall, so far as it is practicable, be the same throughout the country.”

2. In relation to Dáil constituencies, the Commission is required, in observing the relevant provisions of the Constitution, to have regard to the following:

a. the total number of members of the Dáil, subject to Article 16.2.2° of the Constitution, shall be not less than 171 and not more than 181^*;

b. each constituency shall return 3, 4 or 5 members;

c. the breaching of county boundaries shall be avoided as far as practicable.  

d. each constituency shall be composed of contiguous areas;

e. there shall be regard to geographic considerations including significant physical features and the extent of and the density of population in each constituency; and

f. subject to the above matters, the Commission shall endeavour to maintain continuity in relation to the arrangement of constituencies.

The reference in (c) above to county boundaries is deemed not to include a reference to the boundary of a city or any boundary between any two of the counties of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin.

*The number presently stands at 160. 

3. In relation to European Parliament constituencies, the Commission shall have regard to the following:

1. the total number of members to be elected in the State to the European Parliament shall be such as may be specified pursuant to the Treaties governing the European Communities (the number stands at 13 at present).
2. there shall be reasonable equality of representation as between constituencies; and
3. the matters specified at (b) to (f) of paragraph 1 above.

In accordance with section 59 of the Electoral Reform Act 2022 the Electoral Commission has prepared a statement of the constitutional provisions relating to Dáil constituencies and tables showing relevant statistics based on Census 2022 Preliminary Results for the existing Dáil and European Parliament constituencies.  This statement and tables are available on the Electoral Commission’s website or on request from the Electoral Commission.