The creation of four additional seats in the Irish Parliament have been recommended following a major review of existing constituency boundaries.
The Electoral Commission review follows an 8% increase in the Irish population since 2016.
Just seven of the current 39 constituencies would remain untouched, according to the commission’s Constituency Review 2023 report, which was published on Wednesday.
Recommendations include increasing the number of TDs from 160 to 174, and the number of constituencies from 39 to 43.
This would be an additional 14 TDs and 4 new constituencies, making the next Dáil the largest in the history of the State.
The extra seats correspond with our population growth and distribution. (Census 2022 counted 5,149,139 people, up 8%.) @CSOIreland https://t.co/GoWEgYGJNu https://t.co/lrIHbIHtrC pic.twitter.com/vaAq56H0I5
— An Coimisiún Toghcháin, The Electoral Commission (@ElecCommIRL) August 30, 2023
The seven constituencies to remain unchanged since the last review are Clare, Cork South-West, Donegal, Dublin Central, Kerry, Limerick County and Waterford.
There are four extra seats in the Dublin area, with several changes to electoral divisions.
The five-seat Dublin Fingal constituency has gained a TD after being split into Dublin Fingal East and Dublin Fingal West, with three seats each.
The constituency of Dublin Rathdown has been allocated an additional TD to become a four-seat area.
Dublin West has gained a seat and will now have five TDs.
Dublin Mid-West has also become a five-seat constituency with an extra TD allocated there.
There is an additional seat in each of Cork North Central and Cork South Central.
The remaining eight seats are spread throughout the rest of the country.
The five-seat constituency of Tipperary will be divided into Tipperary North and Tipperary South.
The county picks up an additional TD with each of those new areas being three-seat constituencies.
If the Commission’s recommendations are adopted, each TD would represent an average of 29,593 people, down from the current 32,182, meaning we will meet the Constitutional requirements on representation. https://t.co/CnKTKO6Eaa#ConstituencyReview23 https://t.co/TRc9jsqksS pic.twitter.com/x1T8KAznPr
— An Coimisiún Toghcháin, The Electoral Commission (@ElecCommIRL) August 30, 2023
The constituencies of Wicklow and Wexford lose a seat each, down from five to four, with territory from each area being transferred to create the new three-seat constituency of Wicklow-Wexford.
The existing five-seat Laois-Offaly constituency has been split into a three-seat Laois constituency and a three-seat Offaly constituency.
The constituencies of Kildare North and Longford-Westmeath have gained a seat each, both up from four to five.
The constituencies of Galway East and Meath East have increased from three-seat areas to four each.
Mayo has also become a five-seat constituency, up from four.
