Constitutional Referendum on the Number of Members of Dáil Éireann: Motion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-25
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Michael McDowell (IND), National University of Ireland

We decided to propose the motion at this time and in this form because if the population grows to 5.56 million in the next two years, that implies we would have a Dáil comprising 185 Members, an increase from 174 at the current time. Nobody can project where it is going to go after that. There are all sorts of factors, such as demography, migration, asylum seeking, refugees and issues like that, which will determine precisely where our population stands in the next five, ten or 15 years.
The crucial point is that our population, not our number of citizens, dictates the number of Deputies. That is a crucial point to remember. The number of people in Ireland on census night decides, based on the constitutional formula currently in place, how many Deputies there must be. In the 1930s, when the Constitution was enacted, our population was not only stable but actually in decline over the years of independence from 1922 to 1962. Our population is now growing very fast, the fastest among European Union member states. In that scenario, it seems to me that we have to consider how the formula in the Constitution looks in terms of where the Dáil is going in respect of size.
People say there are international comparisons. If every 30,000 people in the United Kingdom required an MP, there would be roughly 2,300 members of the House of Commons. That is an unthinkable thing. Being practical and dealing with examples closer to home, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Norway and Denmark are all northern European parliamentary democracies of medium to small size. Finland has a ratio of MPs per million of the population of 35, Sweden 33, Ireland 32, Norway 30.33 and Denmark 29.95. We are not out of the ordinary in that respect, except that Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark are unicameral parliaments and we have a Seanad with a fixed number of Members of 60.
The motion we have put forward recognises the fact that it is up to Dáil Éireann and not Seanad Éireann to initiate any constitutional change. The motion before us does not for one minute attempt to bind the House to the proposition that any particular number that the Independent Senators think is the ideal number should be the number chosen by the people if the question is put to them. Some might argue that the current figure of 174 is enough. Others might argue that anywhere up to 200 is enough. If the population grows much larger than that, we must remember that the Cabinet is restricted by the Constitution to 15 members and the number of people who would be non-ministerial officeholders in a Parliament of, say, 200 Members would be very substantial indeed.
I had the pleasure of discussing this matter with Deputy Cathal Crowe, a Fianna Fáil Deputy from Clare, today. He made some valid points about our system of local government, which I call a prefecture. He said we got rid of town councils and a whole load of elected people and our motion suggested there should be a limit on the number of Deputies. One would have to rebuild Dáil Eireann's Chamber if we were approaching 200 Members. A major extension might possibly be required. It would be many multiples of bicycle sheds, let me put it that way, to accommodate-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:46+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-25