Ireland to get additional MEP at upcoming European Parliament election

On Tuesday, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said that he is hoping to gain up to two additional seats in the European Parliament for Fianna Fáil at the next election. File picture

Ireland will receive an additional MEP at the upcoming European Parliament elections in June.

The additional seat, which is yet to be allocated to any constituency, will see the number of Irish MEPs rise from 13 to 14.

It is currently expected that the Electoral Commission will allocate the extra seat to the Midlands-North-West constituency, turning it from a four-seater to a five-seater.

Speaking on Tuesday before the additional seat was formally allocated to Ireland, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said that the Electoral Commission will dictate which constituency the seat is a provided to.

“I’d expect the Electoral Commission to start working straight away and then we will bring in the proposed changes to the European electoral bounds as a committee amendment as part of the constituencies bill.” 

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Mr O’Brien brought the Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2023 to Cabinet on Wednesday, which will give effect to the electoral boundary changes as recommended by the Electoral Commission.

On Tuesday, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said that he is hoping to gain up to two additional seats in the European Parliament for Fianna Fáil at the next election.

“I would hope that certainly we can gain an additional seat, if not two over and above what we have at the moment. I think in Barry Andrews and Billy Kelleher, we've had very effective European parliamentarians and what we'd be saying to the Irish people is that it does matter who you send to the European Parliament,” Mr Martin said.

But he added: "In terms of the forthcoming European Union elections, there are some issues around the boundary yet to be determined and I think that will probably influence people making decisions as to whether or not they're going to go forward.”