The Carlow-Kilkenny constituency could be split up for the next General Election.
The Census, held on the 3rd of April this year, has shown an increase in Ireland’s population, bringing it over the five million mark to the highest figure since 1841.
Preliminary data showed that numbers in Carlow were up by about 8% on the previous survey while Kilkenny had just under a 5% rise between 2016 and 2022.
There are now 165,616 people across the two counties.
Nationally, the jump could see the overall number of seats in the Dáil rise by up to 20 new TDs – that might mean that Carlow-Kilkenny would go from a five to a six-seater but five is the most currently allowed by law.
Geography Lecturer at NUI Maynooth Dr Adrian Kavanagh says unless new legislation is brought in the constituency will have to be broken up, saying on KCLR Live today “If Carlow-Kilkenny has six seats next time there’s going to be a divide across the constituency so next time round we mightn’t be talking about Carlow-Kilkenny, we could well be talking about Carlow-North Kilkenny and Kilkenny City-South Kilkenny or Carlow-West Kilkenny and the rest of Kilkenny”.
