The Central Statistics Office (CSO) reported this week on the latest population estimates, confirming that there are now more than 5.5 million people living in the Republic.

Politicians immediately fixated on the implications for the number of TDs. Political geographer Adrian Kavanagh estimated that the Dáil would have to increase in size from the current 174 seats to somewhere in the range of 187-195 seats. This is because the Constitution requires a TD for at least every 30,000 of the population, even though with a relatively large (931,000) non-Irish population, the electorate for a general election, comprising only Irish and UK citizens, is significantly smaller.

Of course the Constitution should be changed by referendum to limit the size of the Dáil, but referendums have a nasty habit of blowing up in the face of governments. This one could get into all sorts of complicated immigration-related issues. “No plans,” says a Government insider, on the principle of why go looking for trouble.

But the implications of the CSO numbers are much more profound than the size of the Dáil – which is diverting for us political nerd-types (“OMG there’ll be an extra seat in Galway East!”) but not actually all that important in the greater scheme of things.

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