Tipperary is to be split into two Dáil Constituencies for the next election as the county is to elect an extra TD due to population increase. The Electoral Commission published it’s report today and recommends that 14 additional TDs be elected across the country and that the number of Dáil Constituencies be increased from the current 39 to 43.
The newly defined North Tipperary Constituency will include 3 Electoral Districts from the west of the county currently included in the Limerick Dáil Constituency and the inclusion of 13 Electoral Districts from West Kilkenny – the largest of which is the Urlingford Electoral District. The new Tipperary North constituency will have a population of 87,799.
The Commission recommends that the Tipperary South constituency should consist of the southern part of county Tipperary and also elect 3 TDs. The Tipperary South constituency will have a population of 86,527. The Tipperary constituency is currently a 5 seat constituency with a population of 163,242 which had a population growth of 8,064 (5.2%) since 2016. The Commission says the increase in population was an important factor due to the Tipperary constituency already being a 5 seat constituency, the maximum possible seat size.
The submissions received primarily concerned the integrity of the county’s boundary – particularly the breach by the Limerick City constituency. Submissions focused on having the entirety of Co. Tipperary accommodate one or two Tipperary constituencies. There was also a widely held view that if a constituency split was to be proposed it should be on a north-south basis.
The sitting TDs are Alan Kelly based near Nenagh, Michael Lowry and Jackie Cahill based in Thurles, Martin Browne based in Cashel and Mattie McGrath based in Clonmel.
The division of the Tipperary constituency into two constituencies – Tipperary North and Tipperary South – will be a return to a configuration similar to that prior to 2013
