Cork East and North East (Dáil constituency)

Cork East and North East was a proposed Dáil constituency in Ireland, intended to be created for the 2024 European Parliament election and subsequent general election. The Constituency Commission proposed its creation as part of its 2023 review of Dáil and European Parliament constituencies.

The rationale for its creation stemmed from population changes recorded in the 2022 census, which indicated a need to adjust constituency boundaries to ensure more equitable representation across the country. The proposed constituency aimed to address over-representation issues in existing Cork constituencies, particularly in Cork East.

The proposed Cork East and North East constituency was intended to encompass areas from the existing Cork East constituency, along with portions of North Cork. The exact boundaries were to be defined through detailed mapping based on electoral divisions.

However, the proposal faced legal challenges. In October 2023, the High Court ruled that the proposed constituency boundaries were unconstitutional. The court found that the Constituency Commission had deviated too much from constitutional requirements concerning the ratio of TDs to population within constituencies. As a result, the proposed Cork East and North East constituency was deemed invalid.

Following the High Court ruling, the Constituency Commission was required to revise its recommendations. The revised proposals were published in late 2023, and the Cork East and North East constituency was not retained in the final recommendations. The existing Cork East constituency was therefore retained, with adjustments to its boundaries.