World of Politics with Harry McGee

In the early days of the European Economic Community, Ireland had 22 MEPs. When we first joined in 1973, they were all TDs and Senators who were elected, or essentially co-opted, by their peers. They could also retain their day jobs in the Dáil or Seanad, which made the MEP job into a fairly lucrative side hustle.

As the European Union has expanded, the number of MEPs representing Ireland has fallen. It fell to 15 in 1999 and to 13 in 2004 when the European Union went through its biggest expansion, with ten new States (most which were behind the Iron Curtain pre-1990) joining. After that there were falls in 2009, and 2014, when the numbers fell to eleven.

And there the numbers would have stayed if it were not for Brexit. When Britain voted to leave the European Union – and then followed through, it meant the United Kingdom seats had to be redistributed. Ireland was allotted an extra two in 2019.

Now there is a chance that we will go back up to 14 for the 2024 election, the highest number we will have had for 20 years.

The provisional data from Census 2022 show that the population of the State has crept over five million for the first time. At 5,123,536, it is an increase of over 361,671 from 2016.

We are one of nine countries in the European Union which has experienced population growth since the last European parliament elections in 2019.

The Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) decided at a meeting in May that seven countries, including Ireland, should be allotted one extra MEP for the 2024 elections for the 705-seat assembly. It also recommended that two countries, Austria and Spain, should get an extra two seats.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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