The Electoral (Amendment) Act 1980 (No. 17) was a law of Ireland which revised

Dáil constituencies There are 39 multi-member electoral districts, known as Dáil constituencies, that elect 160 TDs (members of parliament), to Dáil Éireann, Ireland's lower house of the Oireachtas, or parliament, by means of the single transferable vote, ...

. It took effect on the dissolution of the

21st Dáil First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

on 21 May 1981 and a

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

for the 22nd Dáil on the revised constituencies took place on 11 June 1981. This Act repealed the

Electoral (Amendment) Act 1974 The Electoral (Amendment) Act 1974 (No. 7) was a law in Ireland which revised Dáil constituencies. It was a review of parliamentary constituencies passed in Ireland by the governing Fine Gael– Labour Party National Coalition. It was intended ...

, which had defined constituencies since the 1977 general election. It was the first revision of Dáil constituencies to adopt recommendations from an independent commission. The Commission was established by the government on 9 October 1979. Its members were: Brian Walsh, judge of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

and president of the

Law Reform Commission A law commission, law reform commission, or law revision commission is an independent body set up by a government to conduct law reform; that is, to consider the state of laws in a jurisdiction and make recommendations or proposals for legal chang ...

, chair; Gerard Meagher, secretary of the

Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

; and Michael Healy, clerk of the Dáil. Its terms of reference were to take into account:

the membership of Dáil Éireann to be not less than 166 and not more than 168;
geographical considerations, in that the breaching of county boundaries should be avoided, if possible, and that larger-seat constituencies should preferably be situated in areas of greater population density,
other well-established characteristics in the formation of constituencies, such as clearly-defined natural features, and
the retention of the traditional pattern of three-seat, four-seat, and five-seat constituencies.

It delivered its report on 21 April 1980. The constituencies were also in operation for the duration of the

23rd Dáil Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

elected at the February 1982 general election on 18 February 1982 and the

24th Dáil Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

elected at the November 1982 general election on 24 November 1982. It was repealed by the

Electoral (Amendment) Act 1983 The Electoral (Amendment) Act 1983 (No. 36) was a law of Ireland which revised Dáil constituencies. It took effect on the dissolution of the 24th Dáil on 21 January 1987 and a general election for the 25th Dáil on the revised constituencies ...

, which created a new schedule of constituencies (making minor changes to boundaries in Dublin only) first used at the 1987 general election for the 25th Dáil held on 17 February 1987.

Constituencies

References

{{Constituency Law Ireland Electoral 1980 1980 in Irish law Acts of the Oireachtas of the 1980s