Midlands-North West constituency may get extra seat for next Euro elections

An Coimisiún Toghcháin, Ireland’s independent electoral commission, has made its independent recommendations to the Oireachtas on the make-up of Ireland’s electoral constituencies for June’s European Parliament elections.

The Commission recommends that an additional 14th MEP allocated to Ireland for the European Parliament elections will be allocated to the Midlands-North West constituency and that the counties of Laois and Offaly transfer from the South constituency into the Midlands constituency.

The recommendations follow a month-long public consultation with submissions received from political parties, elected representatives and interested individuals.

The recommendations meet the statutory requirements set down for this review that there should be reasonable equality of representation between constituencies; that each constituency must have between thre and five seats; that breaches of county boundaries should be avoided; and that continuity should where possible be maintained.

Chair of An Coimisiún Toghcháin, Supreme Court Judge Ms Justice Marie Baker stated:

“In late September, a long-awaited EU decision allocated an additional 14th MEP seat to Ireland, stemming from our growing population and EU rules on the European Parliament’s composition. Our recommendation is to allocate this additional seat to the Midlands-North West constituency, making it a five-seater and bringing in the counties of Offaly and Laois from the South. The Dublin constituency remains unchanged.”