Donegal’s future Dáil constituency make up to be announced next week 

Whether parts of south Donegal will remain excluded from their natural Dáil constituency and hinterland of Donegal will be announced on Wednesday next, August 30. 

It may be reconfigured into two constituencies with a total of six seats on offer, as a single constituency at present cannot have more than five seats up for grabs.

After every census there is a review of the composition and boundaries of the Dáil constituencies. One of the stipulations under more recent legislation is that the breaching of county boundaries should be avoided if possible, which has clearly been the case in Donegal, stretching back over the last two General elections. 

Last year’s census revealed that the population of Donegal grew by 5% to 167,084, which means the number of people in the county rose by 7,892 between April 2016 and April 2022.

The biggest bone of contention in south Donegal incorporating the areas of Bundoran, Ballyshannon, Rossnowlagh and parts of Laghey/Ballintra has been its previous annexing from the older Dáil constituencies of south west Donegal, which had three seats and Donegal North East.

In the last election the populations were paired with Sligo and Leitrim and parts of Roscommon.

At the election before that, bedfellows included pairing with parts of west Cavan.  

The review, which will include European Parliament Constituency Review Recommendations will be announced by An Coimisiún Toghcháin, Ireland’s Independent Electoral Commission, on Wednesday 30 August at 8am.

The Commission will lay its independent recommendations before the Oireachtas on the make-up of Ireland’s electoral constituencies for the next Dáil and European Parliament elections.

The Constitution provides that there should be, on average, one TD to represent every 20,000-30,000 people.

*Electoral laws also set out further criteria for Constituency Reviews:  

*that each constituency will be comprised of 3, 4 or 5 members; 

*that the breaching of county boundaries should be avoided if possible; 

A Matter of Record - the Donegal Democrat down the years

Michael McHugh's weekly history column that looks back through the archives of the Donegal Democrat newspaper. The many uses of the flour bag, winning oarsmen having their prizes confiscated at the border by Customs officials, the hardy Belleek donkey who brushed off a collision by a car going at 30 m.p.h. and the fight to keep Glenties District Hospital from closing down, all form part of the eclectic dish

*that each constituency must be composed of adjoining areas; 

*that we must consider significant geographic, population density and physical features, and finally, that in carrying out this work, the Electoral Commission should try to maintain as much continuity of electoral areas as possible. 

The Oireachtas directed that there should be between 171 and 181 TD’s following the next General Election, however the final census figures published in May 2023 means that actually the possible Constitutional range runs from 172 to 181.

The Commission received a record number of submissions (556) from elected representatives, political parties, academics, sports and community groups and interested individuals. 

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For the European Parliament, the Commission will also be making its recommendation. This will be based on the current number (13) of MEP seats rather than the proposed but still unconfirmed additional seats for Ireland.

All submissions are published on the Commission website www.electoralcommission.ie.