On 27 July 2011, I established a Constituency Commission under the Electoral Act 1997 to review Dáil and European Parliament constituencies.
The terms of reference of the Commission were amended by the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2011. The revised terms of reference provide that a Constituency Commission will now recommend Dáil constituencies based on a reduced number of TDs between a minimum of 153 and a maximum of 160 subject to Article 16.2.2 of the Constitution.
The Commission is required to report to the Chairman of the Dáil no later than 3 months after the publication by the Central Statistics Office of the final population results. I understand that these results are due to be published at the end of March 2012. It is a matter for the Oireachtas to revise the constituencies by enacting the relevant legislation. There is no requirement to hold a referendum to revise constituencies.