There are 43 multi-member

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

s, known as Dáil constituencies, to elect 174 TDs to

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...

, the

house of representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

of the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas ( ; ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of the president of Ireland and the two houses of the Oireachtas (): a house ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

's parliament, on the system of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

by means of the

single transferable vote The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vot ...

(PR-STV), to a maximum term of five years. The configuration of constituencies was amended by the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2023, which were in operation for the 2024 general election.

Electoral law

Article 16.2 of the

Constitution of Ireland The Constitution of Ireland (, ) is the constitution, fundamental law of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people. It guarantees certain fundamental rights, along with a popularly elected non-executi ...

outlines the requirements for constituencies. The total number of TDs is to be no more than one TD representing twenty thousand and no less than one TD representing thirty thousand of the population, and the ratio should be the same in each constituency, as far as practicable, avoiding malapportionment. Under the Constitution, constituencies are to be revised at least once every twelve years in accordance with the census reports, which are compiled by the Central Statistics Office every five years. Under the Electoral Reform Act 2022, the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

conducted a review of all constituencies on the publication, by the Central Statistics Office, of the preliminary result of the census. The commission is independent and is responsible for the redrawing of constituency boundaries. Any alterations to constituencies do not take effect during the life of the Dáil sitting when a revision is made. Prior to the establishment of the Commission in 2023, constituency reviews were carried out by a

Constituency Commission The Constituency Commission () is an independent commission in Ireland which had advised on redrawing of constituency boundaries of Dáil constituencies for the election of members to Dáil Éireann (the house of representatives of the Oireacht ...

under the Electoral Act 1997, as amended. The constitution specifies that the minimum number of TDs returned for each constituency is three, but does not define the maximum number; however, electoral law specifies a maximum number of five TDs. The electoral system for general elections is

by means of a

(PR-STV). PR-STV is also used at

European Parliament elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by Universal suffrage, universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are the second largest democratic elections in the world after Electio ...

and local elections. Although they are conducted under the same rules, in the case of

by-elections A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

(where this is only one vacancy) and presidential elections, this becomes

alternative vote Instant-runoff voting (IRV; ranked-choice voting (RCV), preferential voting, alternative vote) is a single-winner ranked voting election system where one or more eliminations are used to simulate runoff elections. When no candidate has a ...

Current constituencies

On its establishment in February 2023, the Electoral Commission sought submissions for a review of Dáil constituencies and

European Parliament constituencies Member of the European Parliament, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are Elections in the European Union, elected by the population of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU). The European Elect ...

following the publication of the 2022 census preliminary results. These changes were provided by the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2023, which will took effect on the dissolution of the 33rd Dáil on 8 November 2024 and were in use at the 2024 general election on 29 November 2024. The 34th Dáil has 174 TDs, an increase from the membership of 160 TDs in the 33rd Dáil. The number of constituencies increased from 39 to 43.

References

Dáil Constituency Maps
– Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Boundary Revisions
– ElectionsIreland.org {{Dáil constituencies Lists of parliamentary constituencies in Ireland Republic of Ireland geography-related lists Republic of Ireland politics-related lists

Electoral law

Current constituencies

See also

References

External links