Constituency shake-up for 26 County politicians

The Constituency Commission has recommended an increase in the number of constituencies for the Dublin parliament but says that the number of TDs should remain at 166.

Sitting and aspiring members of the Dail have anxiously waiting today's publication of the report of the Constituency Commission, whose findings are invariably passed into law.

The 2002 census showed that while there is an average population of 23,598 per TD, there are substantial variations. The Constitution prescribes that the ratio between the number of TDs and the population should ``so far as it is practicable, be the same throughout the country''.

As expected, the Commission in its report has recommended extra seats for the three-seat constituencies of Dublin Mid-West and Kildare North following the census, which showed those constituencies had too few TDs.

There is to be a reduction of a seat each in Cork North-Central, which is currently a five-seater, and the four-seat Dublin North-Central constituency.

The five-seat Meath constituency, whose population warranted an extra seat, is to be split into two, thus, bringing up the number of constituencies from 42 to 43.

It is splitting into Meath East and Meath West, which takes in part of Westmeath, each with three seats.

The other part of Westmeath will be moved into the new constituency of Longford-Westmeath (four seats).

There will also be a new constituency configuration in the North Connacht area.

The four-seat Sligo-Leitrim will become the three-seat Sligo-North-Leitrim, while, the four-seat Longford-Roscommon will become the three-seat Roscommon-South-Leitrim.

There will also be widespread boundary adjustments. For instance, ten of the 12 Dublin constituencies will see changes.

The full report is to be published on the Commission's website.

Urgent Appeal