Constitutional Referendum on the Number of Members of Dáil Éireann: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-25 ============================================================ Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel I welcome the Minister of State and thank the Government for indicating its support for this amendment. There are no amendments to this motion, which is interesting. I heard a number of people around the corridors of Leinster House in recent days say that there was not a hope in hell and that it would not wash with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Senators did not put down any amendments. Not many of them have even spoken about the Bill to date. We still have a little time. I thank the Minister of State for coming. It is common sense. My colleague, Senator McDowell, talked about the Tánaiste being favourably disposed to considering the idea. Let us be fair to him. He is not here. He indicated he was open to it, but he also mentioned the issue of the Electoral Commission. It is significant that we now have an Electoral Commission. I would like to see it be more proactive in terms of engaging with issues like this. I would have like to see a public consultation on it. At best, as to what we attempted to do here tonight - and I think we have succeeded, certainly judging from the media inquiries I have received today, and no doubt we will see this right across our media tomorrow - I think we set out to spark a national conversation. We have certainly done that, both inside and outside the Houses, in the past 24 hours. There is a view that we have to have a cap at some point, but let us be clear what we are asking, because some commentary indicated something slightly different from what my understanding of this is. What are we asking? We respect that this is a matter for Dáil Éireann and, ultimately, the Government. It is not a matter for the Upper House, and we ought to be clear about managing people's expectations. We have a platform here, this Chamber, and we have a voice and can articulate a view. That, at best, is all we can do here in relation to this matter. We call on the Government to initiate legislation to amend Article 16.2.2° to specify the number of Members of Dáil Éireann. That is a matter for the Government, not one for the Seanad. It is important we say clearly we are conscious of the provisions of Article 46.2 of the Constitution, which require that a Bill to amend the Constitution must be initiated in Dáil Éireann. That is what we are saying. Then it is clear. We are conscious of the present constitutional requirement that Dáil Éireann should comprise at least one Member per every 30,000 of the State's population, as distinct from citizens. We are aware of the current population of the State, which is 5.458 million. We are also conscious of the likelihood that Dáil Éireann may have to be enlarged. We know the pressures on these Houses already. We know we are stuck for space. We know there are TDs and Senators in Agriculture House up the road having to navigate down the back lanes and streets to get in here for votes. The architecture, the physicality of the buildings and the services, will present a problem in the future, but that is nothing that cannot be overcome. As I said, I am supportive of this legislation. I also commend and thank the Library and Research Service, which published a blog post about this proposal. It is worth reading. If anyone has not read it, they should do so. It sets out some of the background and the terms. We are realistic about what we are trying to achieve. We hoped to spark a national conversation; we have done that. I understand the Government is not opposing the motion. I acknowledge the fact that no other party here or anybody else has proposed any amendments to it. Clearly, they have considered that it is necessary or deemed necessary. I do not know what basis they operate on but they have not brought any alternative proposal to the House tonight. Therefore, I am more than confident the motion will go through. Where it goes from here is the big question. Hopefully, this will not sit on a shelf gathering a load of dust. It certainly will not from this side of the House because we will keep asking questions about it. We will also collaborate with our colleagues in Dáil Éireann to pursue the issue. I now hand over to Senator Mullen. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. 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