Should all Laois people vote in Laois at General Elections? have your say

The deadline is looming for people to put down in black and white why they think thousands of Laois people should continue to be excluded or not from voting for Laois politicians at the next General Election.

The Electoral Commission is inviting written submissions in relation to matters which should be considered in reporting on constituencies, including Laois, ahead of the next general election.

Controversially, the 2017 Constituency Commission report led to a big part of Laois being hived off to Kildare which got a new TD in line with its population growth. The commission also recommended reuniting Laois and Offaly as a five-seater. This meant that all of Portarlington, Killenard and Ballybrittas voted in South Kildare at the 2020 General election.

The 2016 General Election saw Laois and Offaly separated for the first time to become two three-seaters. Monasterevin was included in Laois to ensure it met the quota of voters while parts of Tipperary were included in Offaly.

These two constituencies were quickly scrapped with most of the voters needed to bring the South Kildare numbers up in 2020 coming from Laois. This contributed to Cathal Berry getting elected to the Dáil as he based himself in Portarlington.

However, Offaly was the loser as just two of the five seats in Laois Offaly were won by politicians based in that county.

The conundrum for the revamped Electoral Commission in Laois Offaly is that the Laois population has grown to a point where it justifies three Dáil seats but there are still not enough people living in Offaly to justify a three-seat constituency.

The case for Laois is made stronger by the fact that the integrity of county boundaries must be respected by the Electoral Commission in reaching its decision.

The Electoral Commission in accordance with section 56 of the Electoral Reform Act 2022 and following the publication of the 2022 Census Preliminary results is to make a report and recommendations in relation to the constituencies for (a) the election of members to the Dáil and (b) the election of members of the European Parliament.

In relation to Dáil constituencies, the Commission is required, in observing the relevant provisions of the Constitution, to have regard to the following:

• The total number of members of the Dáil, subject to Article 16.2.2° of the Constitution, shall be not less than 171 and not more than 181*;
• each constituency shall return 3, 4 or 5 members;
• the breaching of county boundaries shall be avoided as far as practicable.  
• the reference to county boundaries shall be deemed not to include a reference to the boundary of a city or any boundary between any 2 of the counties of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin.
• each constituency shall be composed of contiguous areas;
• there shall be regard to geographic considerations including significant physical features and the extent of and the density of population in each constituency;
• subject to the above matters, the Commission shall endeavour to maintain continuity in relation to the arrangement of constituencies.
• The number presently stands at 160.  Under Article 16.2.2° of the Constitution the total number of members of the Dáil Éireann cannot be fixed at less than one member per 30,000 of the population or at more than one member per 20,000 of the population.

In accordance with section 59 of the Electoral Reform Act 2022 the Electoral Commission has prepared a statement of the constitutional provisions relating to Dáil constituencies and tables showing relevant statistics based on Census 2022 Preliminary Results for the existing Dáil and European Parliament constituencies.  This statement and tables are available on the Electoral Commission’s website or on request from the Electoral Commission.

Submissions should be addressed to An Coimisiún Toghcháin, Dublin Castle, Dublin 2 or by email to constituencyreview@electoralcommission.ie. The closing date for submissions is 10 May 10.

All submissions to the Commission along with the name of the person making the submission will be published on the Commission’s website at www.electoralcommission.ie and may be inspected by prior arrangement with the Commission. The Electoral Commission is required to report not later than three months after the publication by the Central Statistics Office of the final result of the Census in respect of the total population of the State.