I am delighted to welcome the counties of Laois and Offaly to the new five seat Ireland South Constituency. I look forward to visiting Laois and Offaly over the coming months to meet the communities there and hear how we can work together. I know Mairead McGuinness MEP has been a tremendous public representative for these two counties over the last ten years and I look forward to continuing Mairead’s work on behalf of the people of Laois and Offaly in the European Parliament.”

The committee recommended a  four seat ‘Dublin’ constituency; a four seat ‘Midlands-North-West’ constituency and a five seat ‘South’ constituency comprising the counties of: Carlow, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Tipperary, Wexford and Wicklow; the cities and counties of Limerick and Waterford; and the city of Cork.

The only change being transfer of Laois and Offaly to the Ireland South Constituency.

The European Parliament Constituency Committee today (24 September 2018) presented its report on European Parliament constituencies to the Ceann Comhairle.

In preparing its report, the Committee held a public consultation and took account of the 20 submissions made to it over the course of the consultative process.