The Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1947 (No. 31/1947) was a law in Ireland which provided for parliamentary constituencies in the 13th Dáil Éireann. The 13th Dáil was elected at the 1948 general election on 4 February 1948 and dissolved on 7 May 1951.
Contents
This Act replaced the Electoral (Revision of Constituencies) Act 1935, which defined the constituencies used for the 9th Dáil (1937–38), 10th Dáil (1938–43), 11th Dáil (1943–44) and 12th Dáil (1944–48). It was itself replaced by the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1961, which created a new pattern of constituencies for the 17th Dáil (elected in 1961).
It also increased the number of seats in the Dáil by 9 from 138 to 147.
Background
In 1947 the rapid rise of new party Clann na Poblachta threatened the position of the governing party Fianna Fáil. The government of Éamon de Valera introduced the Act, which increased the size of the Dáil from 138 to 147 and increased the number of three-seat constituencies from fifteen to twenty-two. The result was described by the journalist and historian Tim Pat Coogan as "a blatant attempt at gerrymander which no Six County Unionist could have bettered." The following February the 1948 general election was held and Clann na Poblachta secured ten seats instead of the nineteen they would have received proportional to their vote. No Dáil constituency has had more than five seats since 1947. The Constitutional Convention's 2013 recommendation to increase proportionality by having larger constituencies was rejected by the Fine Gael–Labour government on the grounds that "the three, four or five seat Dáil constituency arrangement has served the State well since 1948."
Summary of changes
This list, and those below, summarises the changes in representation. It does not address revisions to the boundaries of constituencies.
List of constituencies for the 13th Dáil
Explanation of columns