Ireland
About parliament
Basic information such as the official name of parliament and details of its structure and leadership. Also includes the current breakdown of MPs by sex and age, and provisions for quotas and reserved seats.
Parliament name
Oireachtas (Parliament)
Chamber name
Dáil Éireann (House of Representatives)
Structure & Status of parliament
This field is to indicate lower/upper in the back end.
Lower chamber
Parliamentary term (years)
5
IPU membership
Affiliation periods
from 1923
IPU Geopolitical Group/s
IPU Geopolitical Groups: African Group, Arab Group, Asia-Pacific Group, Eurasia Group, Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC), Twelve Plus Group.
Twelve Plus Group
Speaker
Official title
The Speaker may for example be known as the Presiding Officer, President, Chairman/Chairperson, etc.
Chairman of Dáil Éireann (Ceann Comhairle)
Speaker
Seán
Ó Fearghaíl
(Male)
Year of birth
1960
Term
10.03.2016
Additional information
Elected on 10 March 2016, re-elected on 20 Feb. 2020.
Secretary General
Official title
This post is most commonly called Secretary General or Clerk. It may also be called Secretary, Head/Chief of the Secretariat, Director General, etc.
Clerk of the Dáil and Secretary General of Parliament
Secretary General
Peter
Finnegan
(Male)
Notes
Additional information about the Secretary General, in particular regarding their term.
Appointed on 13 Jan. 2016.
Members
Statutory number of members
Statutory number of members, as defined in the constitution or other fundamental law.
Principal mode of designation of members
Directly elected
Compare data of this field.
Directly elected members
Directly elected by citizens.
160
Current number of members
Number of members who currently hold seats in parliament. May be lower or higher than the statutory number of members.
Men
The number of male parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
Women
The number of female parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
Percentage of women
Calculated by dividing the current number of women by the current number of members.
Statutory number of members per country
As defined in the constitution or other fundamental laws. Combines the number of parliamentarians in both chambers in bicameral parliaments.
Population (in thousands)
Click for historical data
See historical data for this field.
Age
Data on the age of parliamentarians is collected at the start of the legislature, following the most recent elections. This data is not updated during the legislature, except when parliament notifies the IPU of a change in the youngest or oldest member.
Average age of all members
Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
Youngest member (years)
Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
Youngest member
James O'Connor (Male)
Oldest member (years)
Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
75
Oldest member
Bernard Durkan (Male)
Number of members, by age
| 18 - 20 | 21 - 30 | 31 - 40 | 41 - 45 | 46 - 50 | 51 - 60 | 61 - 70 | 71 - 80 | 81 - 90 | 91 and over | Totals per gender | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals per age interval | 0 | 6 | 24 | 36 | 29 | 41 | 22 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total <= 45: 66 | Total >= 46: 94 | ||||||||||
| Male | 0 | 3 | 18 | 30 | 20 | 33 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 124 |
| Female | 0 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 |
Members for whom data is available
Reserved seats and quotas
There are reserved seats in parliament for certain groups
Reserved seats are a means to ensure the parliamentary representation of certain groups in society.
Electoral quota for women
Quotas to promote the representation of women in parliament.
Notes
Legislated candidate quotas. Part 6 of the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Act of 2012 provides that political parties will face a cut of half their State funding received under the Electoral Act 1997 if they do not have at least 30% women and 30% men candidates at the next general election (2016). Seven years from the general election where this provision first applies, the Act makes provision for this figure to rise to 40% in respect of each gender, commencing at the general election held next after that.
Legal source
Legal text that stipulates the quota, such as the Constitution or electoral law.
cf. Part 6 of the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Act 2012.
Electoral quota for youth
Quotas to promote the representation of youth in parliament.
Links to additional information
Parliamentary website
Link(s) to parliamentary web site in English, French and/or local languages.
Rules of procedure/Standing Orders
Link(s) to Rules of procedure on the parliamentary web site in English, French and/or local language.
List of members
Link(s) to list of members on the parliamentary web site.
Constitution
Official links to the Constitution in English, French and/or original language is provided. Links to unofficial translations where no other source is available.