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

-----the 30 or 40 extra Deputies if we keep going the way we are.
The real question is whether the draftsmen of the 1937 Constitution drew a distinction between a country that had a population that was significantly different from its number of citizens and one whose citizens composed its population. We now live in a different world, with EU rights of migration, asylum seeking and many people coming to Ireland on a transient basis to work for three, four or five years in industries such as the health service and the like but who then go elsewhere. The number of citizens no longer equates to the number of persons present on census nights. The consequence of all of that is that the formula in the 1937 Constitution means that as long as the population is going up, the number of Deputies goes up by 30,000 persons per Deputy minimum amount. That has the consequence of forcing the Government of the day to keep increasing the number of Deputies.
As I said, we are not suggesting any particular number. We believe that Dáil Éireann, which is the initiator of constitutional change, should make up its own mind as to what it thinks the Irish people's ideal size of Dáil Éireann is.
It should not be the case that the number of non-citizen persons in Ireland determines the number of TDs in Ireland. To give an example, if 120,000 Ukrainian people came to Ireland as a result of the Russian invasion, that would mean an extra four TDs. What sense is there in that? They may not be here for long. They may never take citizenship or they may go home. While they are given the right to vote in local elections, they have no right to vote in referendums unless they become citizens. No harm would be done if, as is the case in Seanad Éireann with its cap of 60 Members, Dáil Éireann chose a figure of 180, 190 or 200 TDs, or whatever. It should be something that is sustainable, as a Parliament, bearing in mind the size of the Executive, the needs of the Irish people and the point Deputy Cathal Crowe made today, that perhaps we need more local representatives with more powers. That is a different question, however. We are not being prescriptive. We are calling on the Government to initiate legislation in Dáil Éireann to decide this issue.
This is not an entirely novel proposition. No less a person than the Tánaiste, Deputy Simon Harris, is on record as saying, in 2023, that this would have to be done. It is not, therefore, something that has been taken out of the hat like a rabbit to make a cheap political point. Rather, it is something that has to be addressed as a matter of political inevitability. We are not suggesting that we should have a single-issue referendum next month or in two or six months' time because I do not know how many people would turn out in such a referendum. If there is a referendum opportunity, or if it can be put on the agenda to coincide with the next general election, people should be able to decide to end the 30,000 per TD linkage in terms of population and fix the size of the Dáil in a manner that corresponds to countries like Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Norway and Denmark, similar sized countries in similar parts of the world whose legislatures work well. I will hand over to Senator Craughwell.

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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