Electoral (Amendment) Act 1974

The Electoral (Amendment) Act 1974 was a review of parliamentary constituencies passed in the Republic of Ireland by the governing Fine Gael/Labour National Coalition. It was intended to secure their re-election, but instead backfired disastrously resulting in a landslide victory for their main opponents in Fianna Fáil. Consequently the word "Tullymander" - combining the name of the minister James Tully with the word "gerrymander" - entered the English language to describe a failed attempt at fixing electoral boundaries for partisan gain.

Background

With the responsibility for drawing political boundaries in the hands of the political parties, this responsibility had often been used for partisan advantage until the 1970s. The local government minister James Tully's scheme proved to be more ambitious than most. By radically redrawing the boundaries in the Greater Dublin area, by creating a number of three member constituencies, it was hoped to capitalise on the relative weakness of the main opposition party Fianna Fáil in the capital. The hope was that both Fine Gael and Labour would win one seat each, leaving Fianna Fáil with a solitary seat. This plan however relied on the Fianna Fáil vote remaining below the 40% mark in the Dublin area. In the event of it passing that figure, the danger was that Fianna Fáil could win two seats in each constituency. In practice, this is exactly what happened at the 1977 general election.

A minor aspect of the Tullymander concerned the boundary of the constituencies of Meath and Louth. The constituency of Meath had seen a population boom in the 1970s, as a result of improved economic performance. Therefore an extra seat was to be expected. Tully himself was resident in Laytown at the time, and he tried to align the boundary of the Meath constituency so as to get extra votes from nearby expanding Drogheda included in Meath, and thereby bring in a second Labour TD in Meath.

The failure of the scheme led to the creation of an independent boundary commission to supervise future boundary revisions. This independent commission is still in charge of constituency definition. However, due to the often tight nature of Irish election results, its activities are always closely monitored by political activists and the general public alike.

ummary table of boundary changes

ources/External links

*Summary of boundary revisions [http://www.electionsireland.org/results/general/boundary/allrevisions.cfm#dublin]
*Text of legislation [http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1974/en/act/pub/0007/index.html]