Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918

The Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918 (7 & 8 Geo. 5 c. 65), is a law of the United Kingdom which provided for parliamentary constituencies in Ireland for the House of Commons of the 31st Parliament of the United Kingdom 1918-1922. These constituencies were also used by Sinn Féin to elect members of the revolutionary First Dáil, which met 1919-1921.

This Act replaced the distribution of seats which had been used since 1885. The number of seats was increased from 103 to 105, with the enfranchisement of two additional universities. There continued to be two two-member constituencies, so the number of constituencies increased from 101 to 103.

In 1922 this redistribution was replaced, for the six counties in Northern Ireland which remained part of the UK, by new UK Parliament constituencies. The remaining twenty-six Irish counties ceased to be represented at Westminster.

Under the Government of Ireland Act 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5 c. 67) provision was made for new constituencies, to be used for the House of Commons of Northern Ireland and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. Sinn Féin used both sets of constituencies to elect the Second Dáil of 1921-1922, and the Southern Ireland ones for the election to the Third Dáil of 1922-1923.

List of Irish constituencies for the 31st Parliament and the 1st Dáil

"Explanation of columns
* Number: The number of the constituency (in alphabetical order).
* Constituency: The name of the constituency. Compass points follow the area name in this list, which is not always the case in the official version of the name.
* Created: The year of the election when a UK constituency of the same name was last created. Dáil constituencies were all newly created in 1918.
* No.: The number of times a UK constituency with the same name had been created (if more than one then there was a gap before the current version of the constituency was created).
* Seats: The number of MPs/TDs elected from the constituency.
* Change: Change in the number of seats since the last distribution of seats (which took effect in 1885).

UK Parliament constituencies 1885-1918 abolished

ee also

*
* List of former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies
* Official names of United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies
* List of UK Parliament Constituencies in Ireland and Northern Ireland
* List of Dáil Éireann constituencies in Ireland (historic)

External links

* http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/en.toc.dail.html
* http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/

References

*"Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922", edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)