Paul Murphy
Question:162. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to review constituency boundaries considering the recent population estimates (details supplied). [49152/21]
View answerTuesday, 12 October 2021
Questions (162)
Written answers
Article 16 of the Constitution sets out clearly and distinctly the overarching requirements that apply to the membership of Dáil Éireann. In addition, and complementary to the constitutional provisions of Article 16.2 in particular, Part II of the Electoral Act 1997 (as amended) provides for a constituency review following each Census of Population and establishes, among other things, the terms of reference of a Constituency Commission.
In very broad terms, the publication of preliminary census results triggers the establishment of a Constituency Commission under section 5(1) of the Electoral Act 1997 with the Commission required, under section 9(1) of that Act, to present its report on Dáil and European Parliament constituencies to the chairman of the Dáil within three months of publication of final census results. The timing for the publication of both preliminary census results and final census results are matters for the Central Statistics Office (which is responsible for organising each census) but typically have taken place within approximately 3 months and 12 months respectively of the holding of the census.
In September 2020, the Government, on the advice of the Central Statistics Office, decided to postpone the 2021 Census due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The next census is now due to take place on 3 April 2022. The next review of Dáil and European Parliament constituencies will commence following the publication of preliminary census results, will be undertaken in compliance with our constitutional requirements and will be completed in accordance with the statutory timeframe.