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Dáil Éireann currently stands at a size of 166 TDs.
This gives a ratio of just over 22000 people per TD.
How does this compare with other similar-sized European countries?
The following graph shows the population per parliamentary representative for a number of western European countries. All European Union countries with a population of less than 20 million are shown, along with Norway and Switzerland. The graph also shows the population per representative for some of the regional assemblies and parliaments in western Europe, including the Northern Ireland Assembly. National parliaments are shown in red, regional assemblies and parliaments in blue. |
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Notes:
(1) the population for Flanders excludes Brussels.
(2) the Euzkadi (Basque country) population is that of the 3 provinces
of the Basque Autonomous Region of Spain
Naturally enough, there is a tendency for the population per TD to increase with overall population. There are also a couple of other noticeable features:- a) the four Scandinavian countries have a very similar ratio of population per representative. In all four countries, the ratio is between 1:25000 and 1:29000. Sweden, with the highest population, has the fewest people per representative and has a parliament of 349 for just under 9 million people. Denmark has clearly the most people per representative of the Scandinavian countries, perhaps because it has a far higher density of population. b) there is a clear tendency for the regional assemblies and parliaments to have fewer representatives per head of population. This could be because they have fewer responsibilities. Alternatively, it could be because of their inability to determine their own size. If a line is drawn from the origin (point [0,0]) to the Netherlands's position on the graph, one finds that all independent parliaments bar Luxembourg are on one side of the line, while all the regional bodies are on the other. The Republic of Ireland's position on the graph is about what one would expect for a country of our population. The current ratio of TD to population (1:22174) is very close to the ratio applying in the Scandinavian countries, the western European countries closest to us in terms of population. The constitution specifies that the ratio must be between 1:20000 and 1:30000. Current policy is to maintain the Dáil at about 166 members. Given that the population is increasing, this should bring us up to Scandinavian levels quite quickly. The Northern Ireland Assembly has more members than one would expect by comparison with the other regional bodies. This was a deliberate policy - 6 seats were assigned to each of the 18 Westminster constituencies to make it easier for smaller parties to succeed. Northern Ireland is different also in that its assembly is designed to represent more than a single group. The following table shows the information used to generate the graph, all of which is available on the internet:-
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