Paschal Donohoe a major winner as three constituencies get an extra TD
The Dáil is set to gain two more TDs from the next election as Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe is a major winner in the redraw of constituency boundaries announced tonight, .
The Constituency Boundary Commission report has recommended that the number of members of Dáil Éireann should be 160 and that there should be 39 constituencies.
Thirteen of those constituencies will be five-seat, 17 will be four-seat and nine will be three-seat.
It has recommended that there should be no change to the five Cork constituencies.
As a result, Cork South-Central, Cork East, and North-Central will remain as four seat constituencies, while both Cork North-West and Cork South-West will stay as three-seaters.
The five-seat constituencies of Kerry and Wexford and the four-seat constituency of Waterford should also remain unchanged the report recommends.
But Dublin Central, Cavan-Monaghan and Kildare South each gain one TD under new boundaries, while the counties of Laois-Offaly are to be re-merged to form one constituency, with the loss of one TD.
Mr Donohoe who held a seat in a vastly reduced three-seat Dublin Central against the odds will undoubtedly be a happy man given the increase to the constituency.
Mr Donohoe and members of his team made representations to the Commission seeking the expansion of the area.
The report also recommends that in the Dublin area, 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 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.
Elsewhere, the counties of Cavan and Monaghan, with some population from the constituency of Meath East, should once again 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 report says.
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.
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.
The Commission has also recommended no change to the three existing constituencies for the election of the 11 members of the European Parliament; (Dublin 3 seat), Midlands-North-West (4 seat) and South (4 seat).
