The changes were recommended in the Constituency Commission Report 2017, which was published on Tuesday.
The constituencies of Cavan/Monaghan, Dublin Central and Kildare South will each gain one additional TD following the publication of the
Constituency Commission Report 2017 on Tuesday.
The Commission was set up in July 2016 following the publication, by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), of ‘Census of Population 2016 Preliminary Results’ and was required to present its report not later than three months after the publication of the final result of the 2016 Census on 6 April of this year.
The most significant developments from the report were the addition of one TD to the constituencies mentioned above, while the constituencies of Laois and Offaly were merged and will lose one seat as a result.
The main recommendations of the report are summarised below and the report can be read in full
here.
- In the Dublin area the constituencies of Dublin Bay South (4 seat), Dublin Fingal (5 seat), Dublin South-Central (4 seat), Dublin Mid-West (4 seat), Dublin South-West (5 seat) and Dublin West (4 seat) should remain unchanged. Adjustments should be made between Dublin Rathdown (3 seat) and Dún Laoghaire (4 seat), and between Dublin North-West (3 seat), Dublin Bay North (5 seat) and Dublin Central which should change from a 3 seat to a 4 seat constituency.
- The counties of Cavan and Monaghan, with some population from the constituency of Meath East, should form the Cavan-Monaghan constituency which should become a 5 seat constituency. The rest of the constituency of Meath East should remain as a 3 seat constituency. The constituencies of Meath West (3 seat), Louth (5 seat) and Longford-Westmeath (4 seat) should remain unchanged.
- The constituency of Donegal (5 seat) should remain unchanged. The counties of Sligo and Leitrim with some population from south Donegal (with no change) and from county Roscommon should form the 4 seat Sligo-Leitrim constituency. The rest of the Roscommon-Galway constituency, with additional population from Galway East, should remain a 3 seat constituency. The rest of Galway East with some population from Galway West should remain a 3 seat constituency.
- Galway West, less some population transferred to Galway East and some Mayo population transferred to Mayo, should remain a 5 seat constituency. Mayo with some additional population from Galway West should remain a 4 seat constituency.
- The county of Clare should form a 4 seat constituency. The City and County of Limerick should form the 3 seat constituency of Limerick County and the 4 seat Limerick City constituency which should include some population from county Tipperary. The rest of county Tipperary (including the part of county Tipperary that is in the existing Offaly constituency) should form a 5 seat constituency.
- The county of Kildare should form a 4 seat Kildare North constituency and a 4 seat Kildare South constituency which should include some population from county Offaly and some population from county Laois. The rest of the counties of Laois and Offaly should be joined to form a 5 seat constituency.
- The entire county of Carlow with the entire county of Kilkenny should form a 5 seat constituency. The entire county of Wicklow should form a 5 seat constituency.
- There should be no change to the five Cork constituencies; Cork East (4 seat), Cork North-Central (4 seat), Cork North-West (3 seat), Cork South-Central (4 seat), Cork South-West (3 seat).
- The constituencies of Kerry (5 seat), Waterford (4 seat) and Wexford (5 seat) should remain unchanged.
