There are currently 40 multi-member constituencies, that democratically elect 158 Teachtaí Dála (members of parliament, often shortened to TDs), to Dáil Éireann (Ireland´s lower house), usually every five years. Article 16.2 of Bunreacht na hÉireann (the Irish Constitution) sets out how these electoral districts should be created by law using population figures recorded in the census of Ireland. Census reports are published every four years and are produced by the Central Statistics Office in Ireland. The Constitution stipulates that there will be no more than one TD representing twenty thousand and no less than one TD representing thirty thousand of the population, and from that constituencies should be amended by law to maintain these proportions and prohibit malapportionment. In order t