Electoral (Amendment) Act 2023
The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2023 is a law of Ireland to revise Dáil constituencies and European Parliament constituencies. The revised Dáil constituencies will come into effect on the dissolution of the 33rd Dáil, which must take place before March 2025, with the next general election for the 34th Dáil on the revised constituencies. The next European Parliament election is in June 2024.
| Electoral (Amendment) Act 2023 | |
|---|---|
| Oireachtas | |
Long title
| |
| Citation | No. 40 of 2023 |
| Signed | 19 December 2023 |
| Legislative history | |
| Bill citation | No. 77 of 2023 |
| Introduced by | Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Darragh O'Brien) |
| Introduced | 7 November 2023 |
| Repeals | |
| Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Act 2017 | |
The Electoral Commission was established on 9 February 2023. Under the Electoral Reform Act 2022, it was required to consider a revision of constituencies in light of the 2022 census. On 30 August 2023, the commission delivered a report in which it proposed several changes to Dáil constituencies, increasing the number of seats in the Dáil from 160 to 174, while increasing the number of constituencies from 39 to 43.
In June 2023, the European Parliament adopted a resolution to add an additional 11 MEPs. Ireland would gain one MEP under this arrangement, increasing from 13 to 14. This was adopted by the European Council in September 2023. The Electoral Commission has recommended the additional seat be given to the constituency of Midlands–North-West, with the transfer of County Laois and County Offaly from South.
The Act implements the recommendations of both these reports and would repeal the Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Act 2017, which has defined the constituencies in use since the 2020 general election.