EP constituency Midlands–North-West | Founded 1977 | |
Seats 5 (1977–2016)
4 (2016–) TDs Heather Humphreys (FG)
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (SF)
Brendan Smith (FF)
Niamh Smyth (FF) County councils Cavan County Council
Monaghan County Council Created Irish general election, 1977 | ||
Cavan–Monaghan is a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas. The constituency elects 4 deputies (Teachtaí Dála, commonly known as TDs). The method of election is the single transferable vote form of proportional representation (PR-STV).
Contents
History and boundaries
From its creation in 1977 to 2016, the constituency spanned the entire area of both County Cavan and County Monaghan, taking in Cavan town, Monaghan town, Clones, Cootehill, Belturbet, Bailieborough, Castleblayney and Carrickmacross, and was a 5-seat constituency.
It was created under the terms of the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1974, as part of the redistribution of constituencies also known as the Tullymander. The constituency of Cavan–Monaghan has been used for elections since the 1977 general election. It replaced the two separate constituencies of Cavan and Monaghan that previously covered the area.
At the 2016 general election, 36 electoral divisions in the west of County Cavan were transferred to the Sligo–Leitrim constituency and Cavan–Monaghan became a 4-seat constituency.
The Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Act 2013 defines the constituency as:
"The county of Monaghan and the county of Cavan, except the part thereof which is comprised in the constituency of Sligo–Leitrim."Constituency profile
Cavan–Monaghan is predominately rural with 75% of the population living outside the main towns. Manufacturing, construction and agriculture are the largest sectors of the local economy. In the 2000s there was an influx of people moving to south-east Cavan from Dublin, benefiting from the low house prices and good transport links to the capital.
Due to its proximity to the border the constituency has historically been strongly Republican; hunger striker Kieran Doherty won a seat in the 1981 general election as an Anti H-Block candidate. In recent elections the constituency has seen mainly a three-way fight between Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil, with the Labour Party traditionally polling poorly.
TDs
Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.
2007 general election
Rory O'Hanlon was Ceann Comhairle at the dissolution of the 29th Dáil and therefore deemed to be returned automatically. The constituency was treated as a four seater for the purposes of calculating the quota.