Meath East to get an extra Dail seat as Constituency Review released

Published: Wed 30 Aug 2023, 9:04 AM

Last updated: Wed 30 Aug 2023, 2:34 PM

Meath East will have an extra TD at the next election after the Electoral Commission recommended that the number of deputies for the next Dáil be increased to 174, up from 160.

Meath East will become a four-seater constituency to reflect the rising population while Meath West will remain with three seats.

The recommendations, which sees the number of Dail constituencies rise from 39 to 43, has been made by the commission in its Constituency Review 2023, which has been submitted to the Houses of the Oireachtas.

The changes are necessary to take account of an eight per cent increase in population since 2016. There are now more than 5.15 million people living in Ireland.

Under the Constitution, Ireland should have one TD per 20,000-30,000 people. These changes mean each TD will represent an average of 29,593 people.

Based on the current Dáil of 160 TDs, Ireland is already operating well beyond that with a national average of one TD per 32,182.

In its report, the commission recommended reducing the overall number of breaches of county boundaries from the current ten to six (Donegal, Galway, Kilkenny, Meath, Wexford and Wicklow).

Political columnist with the Meath Chronicle and political correspondent with Virgin Media, Gavan Reilly, had said he expected Meath to be tilted in an unequal way following the review.

"Westmeath is too small for a four-seater of its own, and too big for a three-seater. As a whole, though, Meath has enough of a population for seven TDs, and so Meath East takes a fourth TD."

The newly redrawn Meath East constituency

Chair of An Coimisiún Toghcháin, the Electoral Commission, Supreme Court Judge, Ms. Justice Marie Baker stated: “Our recommendation for 174 TDs across 43 constituencies is the product of detailed analysis of constitutional and statutory limits. It arrives at a solution which best fits the needs of the country as a whole, as our population expands.

“The Commission is pleased to be in a position to recommend the removal of seven of the 10 existing breaches of county boundaries, reductions in the size of two existing breaches and to propose just three new county boundary breaches in the recommended constituency composition.

“Thanks to all those hundreds of people, parties and organisations who shared their ideas and proposals with us. Each was considered in making our final recommendations.”

“This Constituency Review is the first task of Ireland’s new Electoral Commission, An Coimisiún Toghcháin. At barely 6 months old, we are proud to deliver this significant democratic review of Ireland’s constituencies, the building blocks of our democracy, on time and in line with our statutory mandate.”