Offaly to stand alone as three-seat constituency

Offaly is to be a new three-seat constituency for the next general election.

It follows a recommendation by the Electoral Commission in its Constituency Review published this morning.

Offaly will be split from Laois, which is also to be a three-seat constituency.

The entirety of the county of Offaly will be included in the new three-seat constituency. This means that some 2,591 people living in the Portarlington North Electoral Division, which had been voting in the Kildare South constituency, will return to Offaly.

The commission found that the variance of -6.34% between the national average and the actual number of people that each TD in the proposed Offaly constituency represents was acceptable in light of the fact that the Offaly constituency would align with its county boundary.

Article 16.2.3 of the Constitution states that: “The ratio between the number of members to be elected at any time for each constituency and the population of each constituency, as ascertained at the last preceding census, shall, so far as it is practicable, be the same throughout the country.”

Overall, the Commission recommended that the next Dáil would see 174 TDs representing 43 Dáil Constituencies, up from the current 160 TDs in 39 Constituencies.