Back to the future in Laois politics as Laois Offaly divorce again

Laois voters will vote separately from their from their Offaly neighbours for the second time in the history of State while thousands of people around Portarlington will no longer have to vote in Kildare.

That's the upshot of the Electoral Commission recommendations to the Oireachtas on the make-up of Ireland’s electoral constituencies for the next Dáil and European Parliament elections.

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

In light of the statutory importance of the preservation of country boundaries, and because the majority of submissions received by the Commission stressed the perceived importance of the maintenance of county boundaries, the Commission took the view that it was appropriate to propose some variances at a level higher than that proposed by the previous Review.

Laois Offaly was split into two three-seaters for the first time at the 2016 General Election with the two counties reuniting into a five-seater. 

In relation to Laois-Offaly, the Commission considered the breach of county boundaries with the Kildare South constituency in the Portarlington area and the increase in population of the constituency which meant that it could not remain a 5-seat constituency without substantial transfer out. 

The Commission said the submissions in relation to Laois-Offaly were mostly in favour of splitting the Laois-Offaly constituency into two three-seat constituencies, primarily based on their respective county boundaries. Many of these submissions called for areas around Portarlington to be transferred to the Offaly constituency.

The variance in the new 3-seat Laois constituency would be 3.49%. This would be the first time that a Laois constituency fully aligns with its county boundary.

People living in the new Laois constituency would have a population of 91,877.

The change may not make a huge difference to the representation in Laois where Brian Stanley, Seán Fleming and Charlie Flanagan are based for Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael respectively.

Just six candidates ran in the 2016 General Election in Laois when Monasterevin was part of the constituency.  

It took just three counts to decide the outcome of a largely uneventful campaign when the current contingent were easily return to Leinster House. Fleming topped the poll. The other candidates were Thomasina Connell, Fine Gael, John Whelan, Labour and Sinead Moore the Greens.