McDowell proposes referendum to cap number of elected TDs

Independent Senator Michael McDowell has proposed a referendum which would cap the number of TDs elected to the Dáil.

McDowell and fellow independent senators in the Seanad’s independent grouping have called for a referendum on the issue.

In the 2023 set of Dáil constituency redraws, the Electoral Commission increased the number of Dáil seats from 160 to 174 to account for population changes since the 2020 general election, with more 5-seater constituencies being added.

While political scientists and certain political parties argue that 5-seater constituencies under Ireland’s proportional representation system make it among the fairest electoral systems in the world, McDowell said that reducing the size of the Dáil and capping the numbers, similar to what is done in the United States, is the way forward.

As part of austerity measures in the 2010s, the Italian government cut the number of elected representatives from 630 to 400, which political scientists noted decreased the level of representation for voters and increased the chance of a single party being able to win a majority instead of a coalition government.

Last year’s German election saw 630 seats up for grabs in the German parliament, down from the 735 in 2021, which critics argue was not a true representation of the German electorate.

McDowell noted that based on current population projections, Ireland will have 250 members of Dáil Éireann by 2050.

“If we applied our current standard of representation to Westminster, there would be approximately 2,300 members of the House of Commons,” he noted.

The former Tánaiste noted that Article 16.2.2 of the Irish Constitution states that the total number of members of Dáil Éireann shall not be fixed at less than one member for each 30,000 of the population, or at more than one member for each 20,000 of the population.

McDowell evoked the €300,000 bike shelter at the Oireachtas as an example of wasted public expenditure, and that the government should streamline instead of expand.

“I do not wish to burden taxpayers with exorbitant refurbishments or the costs of a new multi-million euro complex to accommodate an ever-increasing number of TDs, their offices and their staff in the years ahead,” he said.

McDowell said “if the government were to accept our motion, they would have considerable scope to determine the finer details. They could, for example, choose to have 160 or 180 TDs, divided among constituencies equally, with the same ratio of people to TDs across the country. That would serve the public far better.”