30th Dáil

The Dáil, or Dáil Éireann, is the lower house of the Irish bicameral parliament. The upper house, the Senate or Seanad Éireann and the Dáil together form the parliament, known as the Oireachtas. The "30th Dáil" is so called because it will be the 30th to sit since the foundation of the state.

Dáil Éireann (usually just called "the Dáil") has 166 members or Teachtaí Dála ("Teachta Dála" is the singular form, abbreviated to "TD"), each elected to represent one of 43 multi-seat constituencies under the system of proportional representation by means of the Single Transferable Vote.

Under the constitution, parliamentary elections must be held at least every seven years, though a lower limit may be set by statute law. The current statutory maximum term is every five years. The current government consists of a coalition of two parties; Fianna Fáil under Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and the Progressive Democrats under Tánaiste Michael McDowell. The main opposition in the current Dáil consists of Fine Gael and Labour. Smaller parties such as the Green Party, Sinn Féin and the Socialist Party also have representation in the Dáil.

On Sunday 29th April, 2007, Taoiseach Ahern called a general election to elect the 30th Dáil. It will take place on Thursday 24th May, 2007.

Nominations for the election closed on Wednesday 9th May, 2007. By the close of nominations, 469 candidates had declared their candidacy for election for the 165 seats available (the sitting Chairperson, or Ceann Comhairle, is returned automatically).

Pre-election alliances

The government coalition parties of the 29th Dáil, Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats, have a joint electoral pact and are seeking re-election together. The two main opposition parties, Fine Gael and the Labour Party, have also declared a pact and are also seeking vote transfers (possible under the Single Transferable Vote system) between their respective candidates. The Green Party were invited to join this pact, but have opted to wait until after the results of the election are known before committing to either coalition. All the major parties have stated that they will not enter coalition with Sinn Féin, due to differences in economic policies. Opinion polls indicate that the election to the 30th Dáil will be an extremely close affair.

Constituencies

Since the last general election in 2002, various changes have been made to constituencies and their boundaries. These changes include the addition of one new constituency (bringing the total to 43), and increasing and/or decreasing the numbers of seats available in others. A direct comparison with the 2002 election results is therefore not entirely valid, and has been omitted.

On Wednesday 16th May, 2007, a High Court challenge was brought by two sitting TDs to challenge the validity of the constituency changes brought about by the most recent Electoral Amendment Act. The case's outcome is unlikely to effect the constituency boundaries or number of seats available in the forthcoming election.

Constituency	Number of seats (2007)	Result (2007)
		FF	FG	Lab.	PD	SF	Grn	Soc.	Other
Carlow-Kilkenny	5
Cavan-Monaghan	5	1
Clare	4
Cork East	4
Cork North Central	4
Cork North West	3
Cork South Central	5
Cork South West	3
Donegal North East	3
Donegal South West	3
Dublin Central	4
Dublin Mid West	4
Dublin North	4
Dublin North Central	3
Dublin North East	3
Dublin North West	3
Dublin South	5
Dublin South Central	5
Dublin South East	4
Dublin South West	4
Dublin West	3
Dún Laoghaire	5
Galway East	4
Galway West	5
Kerry North	3
Kerry South	3
Kildare North	4
Kildare South	3
Laois-Offaly	5
Limerick East	5
Limerick West	3
Longford-Westmeath	4
Louth	4
Mayo	5
Meath East	3
Meath West	3
Roscommon-South Leitrim	3
Sligo-North Leitrim	3
Tipperary North	3
Tipperary South	3
Waterford	4
Wexford	5
Wicklow	5
Totals	166	1

Key:
FF: Fianna Fáil
FG: Fine Gael
Lab.: Labour
PD: Progressive Democrats
SF: Sinn Féin
Grn.: Green Party
Soc.: Socialist Party
Other: Independents and/or members of small parties not listed above.

See also

• The Oireachtas website
• Election coverage by The Irish Times