Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918

Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to provide for the Redistribution of Seats at Parliamentary Elections in Ireland and for purposes connected therewith.
Citation	7 & 8 Geo. 5 c. 65
Dates
Royal assent	6 February 1918
Status: Repealed

The Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918 was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom which redistributed the parliamentary constituencies in Ireland for the House of Commons. The new constituencies were used for the 1918 general election, and were also used by Sinn Féin to elect members of the revolutionary First Dáil, which first met in January 1919 and made a Declaration of Independence of the Irish Republic.

This Act replaced the distribution of seats which had been enacted by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 and had been in use since the general election of that year. The number of seats was increased from 103 to 105, with the enfranchisement of two additional universities. The number of constituencies increased from 101 to 103, with two constituencies each returning two members.

The constituencies in the 1918 Act were superseded by those in the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The seats designated in the 1920 Act for the Southern Ireland House of Commons and the Northern Ireland House of Commons were used as the May election to the Second Dáil. The seats designated for Westminster in the 1920 Act would only apply in the six counties of Northern Ireland which remained part of the UK, taking effect at the 1922 general election. The remaining twenty-six Irish counties became the Irish Free State on 6 December 1922, ceasing to be part of the United Kingdom.

Redistributed seats[]

See also[]

• Wikipedia:WikiProject UK Parliament constituencies/Historic constituency names
• List of former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies
• List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies in Ireland and Northern Ireland
• Historic Dáil constituencies

References[]

• Text of the Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918
• Walker, Brian M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922. Royal Irish Academy.