Redrawn constituencies for European elections published

The Constituency Committee has recommended that the State be divided into three constituencies for the election in Ireland of 11 members of the European Parliament.

A three-seat Dublin constituency comprising the four Dublin local authority areas.

A four-seat Midlands-North-West constituency comprising all of Connacht as well as Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan, Longford, Meath, Louth, Offaly, Kildare, Laois and Westmeath.

A four-seat South constituency comprising all of Munster as well as the Leinster counties not included in the Midlands-North-West constituency.

Ireland currently has an allocation of 12 seats in the European Parliament, but the recent accession of Croatia to the EU forced the parliament to redistribute places. Consequently Ireland will lose a seat in next year’s European election.

The new constituencies will replace the constituencies of East, South, and North-West, while Dublin will remain the same.

Currently the North-West constituency is a three-seater comprising the counties of Connacht, the three Ulster counties, Clare, as well as Longford and Westmeath. Its MEPs are Pat the Cope Gallagher (FF), Marian Harkin (Ind) and Jim Higgins (FG).

The East constituency is a three-seater comprising the counties of Leinster except Longford, Westmeath and Dublin. Its MEPs are Liam Aylward (FF), Nessa Childers (Ind), and Mairead McGuinness (FG)

The South constituency is a three-seater comprising the counties of Munster except Clare. Its MEPs are Brian Crowley (FF), Seán Kelly (FG), and Phil Prendergast (Lab)

The Dublin constituency boundary will remain the same. Its current MEPs are Emer Costello (Lab), Gay Mitchell (FG) and Paul Murphy (Soc).