The census of Ireland is typically held on a quinquennial basis by the Central Statistics Office to determine the population of the Republic of Ireland. The most recent census was held in 2022. As of November 2022, the next census was planned to occur in 2027. [1] Prior to the Partition of Ireland, censuses covered the entire island of Ireland, with the most recent one having been the 1911 census of Ireland, no census having taken place in 1921 due to the Irish War of Independence.
Under Article 16 of the Constitution of Ireland, revisions of Dáil constituencies by the Oireachtas are required at a minimum every 12 years. However, they must also have due regard to changes in the population. [5] Under the Electoral Reform Act 2022, the Electoral Commission is required to conduct a review of constituency boundaries after every census. From 1997 up to the establishment of the Electoral Commission in 2023, this function was carried out by a Constituency Commission created for this function.
From 1971 to 2006, census towns were "defined as a cluster of 50 or more occupied dwellings where, within a radius of 800 metres, there was a nucleus of 30 occupied dwellings". From 2016, a new census settlement was defined "as a minimum of 50 occupied dwellings, with a maximum distance between any dwelling and the building closest to it of 100 metres, accompanied by evidence of an urban centre". For the 2022 census, the CSO developed a new urban geography term the Built Up Area (BUA) to define urban areas. [6]
County Dublin is a county in Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dublin was a single local government area; in that year, the county council was divided into three new administrative counties: Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. The three administrative counties together with Dublin City proper form a NUTS III statistical region of Ireland. County Dublin remains a single administrative unit for the purposes of the courts and Dublin County combined with Dublin City forms the Judicial County of Dublin, including Dublin Circuit Court, the Dublin County Registrar and the Dublin Metropolitan District Court. Dublin also sees law enforcement and fire services administered county-wide.
In representative electoral systems, gerrymandering is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries to advantage a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The manipulation may involve "cracking" or "packing". Gerrymandering can also be used to protect incumbents. Wayne Dawkins, a professor at Morgan State University, describes it as politicians picking their voters instead of voters picking their politicians.
A census tract, census area, census district or meshblock is a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census. Sometimes these coincide with the limits of cities, towns or other administrative areas and several tracts commonly exist within a county. In unincorporated areas of the United States these are often arbitrary, except for coinciding with political lines.
County Louth is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the north-east, across Carlingford Lough. It is the smallest county in Ireland by land area and the 17th most populous, with just over 139,100 residents as of 2022. The county is named after the village of Louth. Louth County Council is the local authority for the county.
Local government in Northern Ireland is divided among 11 single-tier districts known as 'Local Government Districts' and formerly known as district council areas (DCAs). Councils in Northern Ireland do not carry out the same range of functions as those in the rest of the United Kingdom; for example they have no responsibility for education, road-building or housing. Their functions include planning, waste and recycling services, leisure and community services, building control and local economic and cultural development. The collection of rates is handled centrally by the Land and Property Services agency of the Northern Ireland Executive.
An electoral district in Canada is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based. It is officially known in Canadian French as a circonscription but frequently called a comté (county). In Canadian English it is also colloquially and more commonly known as a riding or constituency.
There are 43 multi-member electoral districts, known as Dáil constituencies, to elect 174 TDs to Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas, Ireland's parliament, on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV), to a maximum term of five years. The configuration of constituencies was amended by the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2023, which were in operation for the 2024 general election.
The Greater Dublin Area, or simply Greater Dublin, is an informal term that is taken to include the city of Dublin and its hinterland, with varying definitions as to its extent. At the expansive end, it has been defined as including all of the traditional County Dublin and three neighbouring counties, while more commonly it is taken as the contiguous metropolitan area of Dublin plus suburban and commuter towns. The area is defined for strategic planning, and, for example, transport, and it is not a formal administrative or political unit.
An electoral division is a legally defined administrative area in the Republic of Ireland, generally comprising multiple townlands, and formerly a subdivision of urban and rural districts. Until 1996, EDs were known as district electoral divisions in the 29 county council areas and wards in the five county boroughs. Until 1972, DEDs also existed in Northern Ireland. The predecessor poor law electoral divisions were introduced throughout the island of Ireland in the 1830s. The divisions were used as local-government electoral areas until 1919 in what is now the Republic and until 1972 in Northern Ireland.
Metropolitan Cork includes the city of Cork, Ireland, its suburbs, the rural hinterland that surrounds it, and a number of the towns and villages in that hinterland. Some of the latter towns and villages are within the administrative area of County Cork.
Louth County Council is the local authority of County Louth, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban planning and development, amenity and culture, and environment. The council has 29 elected members. Elections are held every five years and are by single transferable vote. The head of the council has the title of Cathaoirleach (chairperson). The current Cathaoirleach is Kevin Callan. The county administration is headed by a chief executive, David Conway. The county town is Dundalk.
In India and some other countries, a census town is designated as a town that satisfies certain characteristics.
In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community of people living in a particular place. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of cities with surrounding urbanized areas. Settlements include hamlets, villages, towns and cities. A settlement may have known historical properties such as the date or era in which it was first settled, or first settled by particular people. The process of settlement involves human migration.
The Electoral (Amendment) Act 1974 was a law in Ireland which revised Dáil constituencies. It was a review of parliamentary constituencies passed in Ireland by the governing Fine Gael–Labour Party National Coalition. It was intended to secure their re-election, but instead backfired disastrously resulting in a landslide victory for their main opponents in Fianna Fáil. Consequently, the word Tullymander – combining the name of the minister James Tully with the word "gerrymander" – was coined.
Two referendums, related to the Third and Fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bills, were held in Ireland on 16 October 1968, each on a proposed amendment of the Irish constitution relating to the electoral system. Both proposals were rejected.
The Constituency Commission is an independent commission in Ireland which had advised on redrawing of constituency boundaries of Dáil constituencies for the election of members to Dáil Éireann and European Parliament constituencies prior to the establishment of the Electoral Commission in 2023. Each commission was established by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government after the census. The Commission then submitted a non-binding report to the Oireachtas, and was dissolved. A separate but similar Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee fulfilled the same function for local electoral area boundaries of local government areas.
Redistribution is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral district boundaries, usually in response to periodic census results. Redistribution is required by law or constitution at least every decade in most representative democracy systems that use first-past-the-post or similar electoral systems to prevent geographic malapportionment. The act of manipulation of electoral districts to favour a candidate or party is called gerrymandering.
Dáil Éireann is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann. It consists of 174 members, each known as a Teachta Dála. TDs represent 43 constituencies and are directly elected for terms not exceeding five years, on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV). Its powers are similar to those of lower houses under many other bicameral parliamentary systems and it is by far the dominant branch of the Oireachtas. Subject to the limits imposed by the Constitution of Ireland, it has power to pass any law it wishes, and to nominate and remove the Taoiseach. Since 1922, it has met in Leinster House in Dublin.