Limerick was a

parliamentary constituency 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 ...

represented in

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 lower house of the Irish parliament or

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 ...

elected 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). From 1923 to 1948, it represented the whole city and county of Limerick. On its second creation, from 2011 to 2016, it represented the rural part of the county of Limerick, other than in its neighbouring constituencies of Kerry North–West Limerick and

Limerick City Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

History and boundaries

1923–1948

The constituency was first created as a 7-seat constituency under the

Electoral Act 1923 The Electoral Act 1923 was a law in Ireland which established the electoral law of the Irish Free State and provided for parliamentary constituencies in Dáil Éireann. Franchise Article 14 of the Constitution of the Irish Free State adopted ...

for the 1923 general election to

; those elected comprised the

4th Dáil The 4th Dáil was elected at the 1923 general election on 27 August 1923 and met on 19 September 1923. The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature) of the Irish Free State, are known as TDs. It w ...

. It succeeded the constituencies of Limerick City–Limerick East and Kerry–Limerick West which were used to elect members to the

2nd Dáil The Second Dáil () was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 16 August 1921 until 8 June 1922. From 1919 to 1922, Dáil Éireann was the revolutionary parliament of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic. The Second Dáil consisted of members elected ...

and the

3rd Dáil The Third Dáil was elected at the general election held on 16 June 1922. This election was required to be held under the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed on 6 December 1921. It first met on 9 September and until 6 December 1922, it was the Provision ...

. It covered

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

city and all of

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

. It was abolished under the

Electoral (Amendment) Act 1947 The Electoral (Amendment) Act 1947 (No. 31) was a law in Ireland which revised Dáil constituencies. The new constituencies were first used for the 13th Dáil, elected at the 1948 general election on 4 February 1948. This Act repealed the El ...

, when it was replaced by the two new constituencies of Limerick East and Limerick West.

2011–2016

The

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 ...

proposed in 2007 that at the next general election a new constituency called Limerick be created. It was established by the

Electoral (Amendment) Act 2009 The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2009 (No. 4) is a law of Ireland which amended electoral law, including revisions to Dáil constituencies and European Parliament constituencies in light of the 2006 census. The new European Parliament constituencie ...

when it partially replaced the former constituencies of Limerick East and Limerick West. Most of the rural parts of the Limerick East constituency were transferred to the Limerick constituency and the western parts of the Limerick West constituency were transferred to the Kerry North–West Limerick constituency. It was represented only at the 2011 general election, electing 3 TDs. The 2009 Act defined the constituency as: It was abolished at the 2016 general election and replaced by the Limerick County constituency.

TDs

TDs 1923–1948

TDs 2011–2016

Elections

2011 general election

1944 general election

1943 general election

1938 general election

1937 general election

1933 general election

1932 general election

The number of and full figures for later counts are not available. Bennett, Bourke, Colbert, Crowley, O'Shaughnessy, Reidy and Ryan were all elected.

September 1927 general election

June 1927 general election

1924 by-election

Following the resignation of Cumann na nGaedheal TD Richard Hayes, a by-election was held on 28 May 1924. The seat was won by the Cumann na nGaedheal candidate Richard O'Connell.

1923 general election

Full figures for the remaining 16 counts are not available. The following are the number of votes unsuccessful candidates had at the time of their elimination though the counts which some eliminations occurred are unknown due to data being unavailable; Mackey 143, Larkin 509, J. O'Brien 766, Cleary 996, O'Callaghan 1,159, W. O'Brien 1,273, Walshe 1,706, Laffin 2,197, Colivet 2,249, Quaide 2,468, Keyes 2,808 and Smyth 3,509 Michael Gallagher notes that newspapers at the time reported there was a 'discrepancy' with the original first count results, leading to a recount. The results below are of the first count which occurred so may not be fully accurate, the results of the recount are unavailable.

References

External links

Oireachtas Members Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Limerick (Dail constituency) Historic constituencies in County Limerick Dáil constituencies in the Republic of Ireland (historic) 1923 establishments in Ireland 1948 disestablishments in Ireland Constituencies established in 1923 Constituencies disestablished in 1948 2011 establishments in Ireland Constituencies established in 2011 2016 disestablishments in Ireland Constituencies disestablished in 2016