Next Irish general election



The next Irish general election must be held no later than March 2025 to elect the 34th Dáil, the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's parliament. It will elect Teachtaí Dála (TDs) across Dáil constituencies of between 3 and 5 seats.

Under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2023, there will be 174 TDs at the next election, an increase of 14 seats from the current Dáil, and an increase in the number of constituencies from 39 to 43. This will be the largest Dáil in the history of the state.

The 33rd Dáil must be dissolved by the president at the request of the Taoiseach no later than 19 February 2025. The incumbent Taoiseach is Simon Harris, leader of Fine Gael, who is leading a coalition government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and the Green Party. He took office as Taoiseach on 9 April 2024, following the resignation of Leo Varadkar.

Constituency revision
In August 2023, the Electoral Commission proposed a Dáil size of 174 TDs to be elected across 43 Dáil constituencies – an increase of 14 TDs and four constituencies. This was the first review of constituencies carried out by the Commission established under the Electoral Reform Act 2022, where previously they had been carried out by a Constituency Commission. This would be the largest size of the Dáil in the history of the State, surpassing the previous number of 166 TDs from 1981 to 2016. The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2023 implemented the recommendations of the commission.

The preliminary results of the 2022 census showed a population of over 5.1 million, which required a minimum Dáil size of 171 TDs. The Commission was required by law to recommend a size of the Dáil of between 171 and 181 TDs. This range reflects the growth in the population of the state, and the requirement of Article 16.6.2° of the Constitution of Ireland that there be one TD elected for no less than every 20,000 of the population and no more than every 30,000.

Electoral system
Under the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV), each voter may mark all candidates in order of preference. The quota is determined at the first count in each constituency by dividing the number of valid votes by one more than the number of seats (therefore, the quota is 25% in a three-seat constituency, 20% in a four-seat constituency, and 16.67% in a five-seat constituency).

Any candidate reaching or exceeding the quota is elected. If fewer candidates reach the quota than the number of seats to be filled, the last-placed candidate is removed from the count and the next available preferences on those ballot papers are redistributed until a candidate is elected. If such a candidate now has more votes than the quota, their surplus is distributed to remaining candidates in order of ranking on the ballot papers. This is repeated until sufficient candidates have passed the quota to fill the available seats, or where a seat remains to be filled in a constituency and no candidate is capable of achieving a quota as there is nobody left to eliminate for a distribution then the highest place candidate without a quota is deemed elected.

The outgoing Ceann Comhairle (currently Seán Ó Fearghaíl) is due to be returned automatically, unless he announces to the Dáil that he wishes to retire as a TD.

Date of election
Electoral law provides that the "same Dáil shall not continue for a longer period than five years from the date of its first meeting". The writ of election for the general election must be moved on the dissolution of the Dáil. The election must take place on a day 18 to 25 days (disregarding any excluded day) after the writs have been moved.

The 33rd Dáil first met on 20 February 2020, and must be dissolved no later than 19 February 2025. This means that, per a calculation in The Irish Times, the latest date the election can be held is 22 March 2025.

After Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced his resignation on 20 March 2024, opposition parties Sinn Féin, Labour, Social Democrats, People Before Profit–Solidarity, and Aontú called for an immediate general election. At the 2024 Irish local elections and the 2024 European Parliament election in Ireland Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were perceived to have performed better than expected while Sinn Féin had underperformed expectations. Four TDs were elected to the European Parliament and took office on 16 July, vacating their seats in the Dáil; a writ to fill the vacancies must be moved within 6 months of that date, unless there has been a dissolution of the Dáil.

Retiring incumbents
The following members of the 33rd Dáil are not seeking re-election:

Opinion polls
Various organisations conduct regular opinion polls to gauge voting intentions. Results of such polls are displayed in this list.

The date range for these opinion polls is from the previous Irish general election, held on 8 February 2020, to the next election, which can be held no later than March 2025.