Meath East (Dáil constituency)

Meath East is a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas. The constituency elects four deputies (Teachtaí Dála, commonly known as TDs) on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).

Meath East
Dáil constituency
Location of Meath East within Ireland
Major settlements	Ashbourne Dunboyne Dunshaughlin Kells Ratoath
Current constituency
Created	2007
Seats	3 (2007–2024) 4 (2024–)
TDs	Thomas Byrne (FF)   Helen McEntee (FG)   Darren O'Rourke (SF)   Gillian Toole (Ind)
Local government area	County Meath
EP constituency	Midlands–North-West

History and boundaries

It was established by the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2005 when the previous 5-seat Meath constituency was divided into two 3-seat constituencies of Meath East and Meath West.^[1] It was first used at the 2007 general election to the 30th Dáil.

It spans the eastern portions of County Meath. It includes Nobber, Slane, Dunboyne, Kells and Ashbourne, the constituency's biggest town.^[2]

The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2023 defines the constituency as:^[3]

"In the county of Meath, the electoral divisions of:

Drumcondra, Grangegeeth, Killary, in the former Rural District of Ardee No. 2;

Culmullin, Donaghmore, Dunboyne, Dunshaughlin, Kilbrew, Killeen, Kilmore, Rathfeigh, Ratoath, Rodanstown, Skreen, in the former Rural District of Dunshaughlin;

Ardagh, Carrickleck, Ceanannas Mór Rural, Cruicetown, Kilmainham, Maperath, Moybolgue, Moynalty, Newcastle, Newtown, Nobber, Posseckstown, Staholmog, Trohanny, in the former Rural District of Kells;

Ardcath, Duleek, Julianstown, Mellifont, Stamullin, in the former Rural District of Meath;

Ardmulchan, Castletown, Domhnach Phádraig, Kentstown, Painestown, Rathkenny, Slane, Stackallan, Tara, in the former Rural District of Navan;

and Ceannanas Mór Urban."

Changes to the Meath East constituency 2007–present

Years	TDs	Boundaries	Notes
2007–2011	3	In County Meath, the electoral divisions of[1] Drumcondra, Grangegeeth, Killary, in the former Rural District of Ardee No. 2; Culmullin, Donaghmore, Dunboyne, Dunshaughlin, Kilbrew, Killeen, Kilmore, Rathfeigh, Ratoath, Rodanstown, Skreen, in the former Rural District of Dunshaughlin; Ardagh, Carrickleck, Cruicetown, Kilmainham, Moybolgue, Moynalty, Newcastle, Newtown, Nobber, Posseckstown, Trohanny, in the former Rural District of Kells; Ardcath, Duleek, Julianstown, Mellifont, St. Mary's (part), Stamullin, in the former Rural District of Meath; Ardmulchan, Castletown, Domhnach Phádraig, Kentstown, Painestown, Rathkenny, Slane, Stackallan, Tara, in the former Rural District of Navan.	Created from Meath[4]
2011–2020	3	In County Meath, the electoral divisions of[5][6] Drumcondra, Grangegeeth, Killary, in the former Rural District of Ardee No. 2; Culmullin, Donaghmore, Dunboyne, Dunshaughlin, Kilbrew, Killeen, Kilmore, Rathfeigh, Ratoath, Rodanstown, Skreen, in the former Rural District of Dunshaughlin; Ardagh, Carrickleck, Ceanannas Mór Rural, Cruicetown, Kilmainham, Maperath, Moybolgue, Moynalty, Newcastle, Newtown, Nobber, Posseckstown, Staholmog, Trohanny, in the former Rural District of Kells; Ardcath, Duleek, Mellifont, Stamullin, in the former Rural District of Meath; Ardmulchan, Castletown, Domhnach Phádraig, Kentstown, Painestown, Rathkenny, Slane, Stackallan, Tara, in the former Rural District of Navan; and the town of Kells.	Transfer from Meath West of[7][8] Ceanannas Mór Urban, and of Ceanannas Mór Rural, Maperath and Staholmog in the former Rural District of Kells; and transfer to Louth of Julianstown and St. Mary’s (part in County Meath) in the former Rural District of Meath.
2020–2024	3	In County Meath, the electoral divisions of[9] Grangegeeth, Killary, in the former Rural District of Ardee No. 2; Culmullin, Donaghmore, Dunboyne, Dunshaughlin, Kilbrew, Killeen, Kilmore, Rathfeigh, Ratoath, Rodanstown, Skreen, in the former Rural District of Dunshaughlin; Ceanannas Mór Rural, Cruicetown, Maperath, Moynalty, Newcastle, Newtown, Nobber, Staholmog, in the former Rural District of Kells; Ardcath, Duleek, Mellifont, Stamullin, in the former Rural District of Meath; Ardmulchan, Castletown, Domhnach Phádraig, Kentstown, Painestown, Rathkenny, Slane, Stackallan, Tara, in the former Rural District of Navan; and Ceannanas Mór Urban.	Transfer to Cavan–Monaghan of[10] Ardagh, Carrickleck, Kilmainhamm, Moybolgue, Posseckstown and Trohanny, in the former Rural District of Kells, and Drumcondra in the former Rural District of Ardee No. 2.
2024–	4	In County Meath, the electoral divisions of[3] Drumcondra, Grangegeeth, Killary, in the former Rural District of Ardee No. 2; Culmullin, Donaghmore, Dunboyne, Dunshaughlin, Kilbrew, Killeen, Kilmore, Rathfeigh, Ratoath, Rodanstown, Skreen, in the former Rural District of Dunshaughlin; Ardagh, Carrickleck, Ceanannas Mór Rural, Cruicetown, Kilmainham, Maperath, Moybolgue, Moynalty, Newcastle, Newtown, Nobber, Posseckstown, Staholmog, Trohanny, in the former Rural District of Kells; Ardcath, Duleek, Julianstown, Mellifont, Stamullin, in the former Rural District of Meath; Ardmulchan, Castletown, Domhnach Phádraig, Kentstown, Painestown, Rathkenny, Slane, Stackallan, Tara, in the former Rural District of Navan; and Ceannanas Mór Urban.	Transfer from Cavan–Monaghan of Ardagh, Carrickleck, Kilmainhamm, Moybolgue, Posseckstown and Trohanny, in the former Rural District of Kells, and Drumcondra in the former Rural District of Ardee No. 2. and the transfer from Louth of Julianstown, in the former Rural District of Meath.[11]

TDs

Teachtaí Dála (TDs) for Meath East 2007–
Key to parties   FF = Fianna Fáil   FG = Fine Gael   Lab = Labour   SF = Sinn Féin   Ind = Independent
Dáil	Election	Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)
30th	2007[12]		Thomas Byrne (FF)		Mary Wallace (FF)		Shane McEntee (FG)	3 seats 2007–2024
31st	2011[13]		Dominic Hannigan (Lab)		Regina Doherty (FG)
	2013 by-election[14]						Helen McEntee (FG)
32nd	2016[15]		Thomas Byrne (FF)
33rd	2020[16]				Darren O'Rourke (SF)
34th	2024[17]								Gillian Toole (Ind)

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

Elections

^ *: Outgoing TD

2024 general election

2024 general election: Meath East^[17][18]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
	Fine Gael	Helen McEntee	19.9	9,957	9,959	9,959	9,996	10,006
	Sinn Féin	Darren O'Rourke	16.4	8,175	8,177	8,184	8,228	8,272	8,325	8,666	9,095	9,821	12,786
	Fianna Fáil	Thomas Byrne	12.8	6,403	6,405	6,407	6,425	6,432	6,527	6,546	6,855	7,363	7,437	7,520	9,665	10,525
	Independent	Gillian Toole	8.9	4,459	4,483	4,491	4,549	4,707	4,749	4,859	5,211	5,952	6,091	6,717	7,194	8,953
	Aontú	Emer Tóibín	6.6	3,281	3,285	3,306	3,341	3,608	3,633	3,721	3,871	4,165	4,289	4,785	5,027
	Fianna Fáil	Caroline O'Reilly	6.5	3,223	3,223	3,225	3,248	3,257	3,304	3,335	3,601	3,870	3,918	3,996
	Fine Gael	Sharon Tolan	6.4	3,176	3,178	3,184	3,206	3,210	3,309	3,330	3,747	4,135	4,232	4,389	5,043	5,482
	Sinn Féin	Maria White	5.8	2,894	2,900	2,903	2,917	2,939	2,951	3,264	3,568	3,657
	Independent	Joseph Bonner	5.5	2,771	2,781	2,787	2,929	3,028	3,080	3,173	3,477
	Labour	Eilish Balfe	4.1	2,048	2,050	2,051	2,076	2,089	2,440	2,882
	PBP–Solidarity	Clara McCormack[a]	2.7	1,380	1,381	1,383	1,434	1,458	1,536
	Green	Ruadháin Bonham	1.7	845	848	849	874	875
	National Party	Jean Murray	1.3	652	653	704	720
	Party for Animal Welfare	Carolyn Fahy	0.4	207	209	210
	Independent	Charles Bobbett	0.4	186	189	190
	Independent	Sivakumar Murugadoss	0.3	135	140	141
	Liberty Republic	Barbara Reid	0.2	119	121
	Independent	Raymond Westlake	0.1	72
Electorate: 84,272   Valid: 49,983   Spoilt: 338   Quota: 9,997   Turnout: 59.7%

1. McCormack is a member of People Before Profit.

2020 general election

2020 general election: Meath East^{[16][19][20][21][22]}

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Sinn Féin	Darren O'Rourke	24.4	10,223	10,617
	Fine Gael	Helen McEntee[*]	18.3	7,691	7,856	8,123	8,333	8,937	9,416	12,984
	Fianna Fáil	Thomas Byrne[*]	14.4	6,039	6,095	6,348	7,637	8,222	8,999	9,622
	Fine Gael	Regina Doherty[*]	10.0	4,180	4,272	4,330	4,505	4,643	5,122
	Green	Seán McCabe	7.8	3,251	3,756	4,036	4,167	4,677	5,999	6,547
	Independent	Joe Bonner	7.0	2,934	3,053	3,240	3,338	4,037
	Independent	Sharon Keogan	5.9	2,475	2,570	2,939	3,024
	Fianna Fáil	Deirdre Geraghty-Smith	4.6	1,941	1,977	2,047
	Aontú	Emer Tóibín	3.9	1,634	1,705
	Labour	Annie Hoey	2.1	874
	Solidarity–PBP	Andrew Keegan[a]	1.4	569
	Workers' Party	Seamus McDonagh	0.3	134
Electorate: 66,507   Valid: 41,945   Spoilt: 253   Quota: 10,487   Turnout: 42,198 (63.4%)

1. Keegan was a member of People Before Profit.

2016 general election

2016 general election: Meath East^[23][24][15]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Fianna Fáil	Thomas Byrne	26.1	10,818
	Fine Gael	Helen McEntee[*]	18.3	7,556	7,656	7,671	7,749	7,841	7,887	8,237	8,435	9,958
	Fine Gael	Regina Doherty[*]	16.5	6,830	6,889	6,899	6,979	7,064	7,109	7,247	7,477	9,612
	Sinn Féin	Darren O'Rourke	14.0	5,780	5,860	5,970	6,017	6,096	6,341	6,637	7,236	8,556
	Independent	Joe Bonner	6.0	2,482	2,527	2,545	2,600	2,665	2,857	3,215	3,825
	Labour	Dominic Hannigan[*]	5.5	2,270	2,307	2,325	2,350	2,494	2,525	2,680	3,084
	Social Democrats	Aisling O'Neill	4.1	1,715	1,740	1,801	1,885	2,148	2,300	2,463
	Independent	Sharon Keogan	3.7	1,528	1,579	1,600	1,663	1,709	1,805
	Direct Democracy	Ben Gilroy	1.9	794	809	841	876	899
	Green	Seán Ó Buachalla	1.9	766	784	801	853
	Renua	Sarah Tyrrell	1.3	523	554	563
	Workers' Party	Seamus McDonagh	0.8	326	335
Electorate: 65,588   Valid: 41,388   Spoilt: 240   Quota: 10,348   Turnout: 63.5%

2013 by-election

Fine Gael TD Shane McEntee died on 21 December 2012. A by-election was held to fill the vacancy on 27 March 2013. The seat was won by his daughter Helen McEntee.

2013 by-election: Meath East^[14]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	Fine Gael	Helen McEntee	38.5	9,356	9,547	11,473
	Fianna Fáil	Thomas Byrne	32.9	8,002	8,106	9,582
	Sinn Féin	Darren O'Rourke	13.0	3,165	3,370
	Direct Democracy	Ben Gilroy	6.5	1,568	1,793
	Labour	Eoin Holmes	4.6	1,112	1,245
	Green	Seán Ó Buachalla	1.7	423
	Workers' Party	Seamus McDonagh	1.1	263
	Independent	Mick Martin	0.8	190
	Independent	Charlie Keddy	0.5	110
	Independent	Gerard O'Brien	0.3	73
	Independent	Jim Tallon	0.2	47
Electorate: 64,164   Valid: 24,309   Spoilt: 259   Quota: 12,155   Turnout: 38.3%

2011 general election

2011 general election: Meath East^[13]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Labour	Dominic Hannigan	21.0	8,994	9,383	9,669	12,382
	Fine Gael	Shane McEntee[*]	20.6	8,794	8,994	9,142	10,143
	Fine Gael	Regina Doherty	20.3	8,677	8,858	9,305	10,447
	Fianna Fáil	Thomas Byrne[*]	13.4	5,715	5,892	7,354	8,173
	Sinn Féin	Michael Gallagher	8.9	3,795	3,958	4,025
	Independent	Joe Bonner	5.8	2,479	2,866	3,074
	Fianna Fáil	Nick Killian	6.2	2,669	2,719
	New Vision	Sharon Keogan	2.7	1,168
	Green	Seán Ó Buachalla	1.1	461
Electorate: 64,873   Valid: 42,752   Spoilt: 346 (0.8%)   Quota: 10,689   Turnout: 43,098 (66.4%)

2007 general election

2007 general election: Meath East^[12]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Fianna Fáil	Mary Wallace[*]	25.3	10,901
	Fianna Fáil	Thomas Byrne	18.2	7,834	7,866	8,267	8,469	8,628	9,079	9,770	10,077
	Fine Gael	Shane McEntee[*]	15.7	6,766	6,789	6,877	6,941	7,106	7,351	7,870	11,619
	Labour	Dominic Hannigan	11.9	5,136	5,193	5,337	5,575	6,095	6,554	7,247	8,596
	Fine Gael	Regina Doherty	10.1	4,363	4,377	4,508	4,764	4,992	5,164	5,972
	Independent	Brian Fitzgerald	6.0	2,586	2,617	2,659	2,816	3,008	3,334
	Sinn Féin	Joanne Finnegan	3.9	1,695	1,723	1,762	1,859	2,008
	Green	Seán Ó Buachalla	3.1	1,330	1,355	1,417	1,547
	Independent	Joseph Bonner	2.7	1,170	1,195	1,223
	Progressive Democrats	Sirena Campbell	2.2	957	983
	Independent	A. J. Cahill	0.6	269
Electorate: 67,443   Valid: 43,007   Spoilt: 359 (0.8%)   Quota: 10,752   Turnout: 43,366 (64.3%)

See also

• Elections in the Republic of Ireland
• Politics of the Republic of Ireland
• List of Dáil by-elections
• List of political parties in the Republic of Ireland