Ireland

House of Representatives

Political system
Parliamentary system
Structure of parliament
Bicameral
IPU membership
Yes

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
Lower chamber
Parliamentary term (years)
5

IPU membership

Affiliation periods
from 1923
IPU Geopolitical Group/s
Twelve Plus Group

Speaker

Official title
Chairman of Dáil Éireann (Ceann Comhairle)
Speaker
Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Male)
Date of birth: 17 Apr 1960
Term
10 Mar 2016
Additional information

Elected on 10 March 2016, re-elected on 20 Feb. 2020.

Speaker terms

No information available

Secretary general

Official title
Clerk of the Dáil and Secretary General of Parliament
Secretary General
Peter Finnegan (Male)
Term
13 Jan 2016
Notes

Appointed on 13 Jan. 2016.

Members

Statutory number of members
174
Principal mode of designation of members
Directly elected
Directly elected members
174
Current number of members
174
Men
Click for historical data
Women
Click for historical data
Statutory number of members per country
234
Population (in thousands)
5,197
Inhabitants per parliamentarian
22,209

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
48.5
(2020-02)

Notes: Data collected from media sources.

Youngest member
James O'Connor (Male)
Youngest member (years)
23
Oldest member
Bernard Durkan (Male)
Oldest member (years)
75
Number of members, by age (2020-02)
Breakdown of members by age and gender
18 - 20 21 - 30 31 - 40 41 - 45 46 - 50 51 - 60 61 - 70 71 - 80 81 - 90 91 and over Totals per gender
Male 0 3 18 30 20 33 18 2 0 0 124
Female 0 3 6 6 9 8 4 0 0 0 36
Totals per age interval 0 6 24 36 29 41 22 2 0 0 160
Total <= 45: 66 Total >= 46: 94
Percentage of members, by age
Age at the last election or renewal Overall Male Female
Percentage of MPs 30 years of age or younger
3.8% 1.9% 1.9%
Percentage of MPs 40 years of age or younger
18.8% 13% 5.6%
Percentage of MPs 45 years of age or younger
41.3% 32% 9.4%

Reserved seats and quotas

There are reserved seats in parliament for certain groups
No
Electoral quota for women
Yes

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.

Sources: cf. Part 6 of the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Act 2012.

Youth quota
No

Links to additional information

Parliamentary website
List of members
Rules of procedure/Standing Orders
Constitution

Historical data for IPU membership

Historical data for IPU membership
Year IPU membership
2020-09
List of values for 2020-09
No
2019-04
List of values for 2019-04
No
2018-06
List of values for 2018-06
No