Members of the public are being invited to make submissions to the Electoral Commission on the makeup of Dáil constituencies for the next election.
The Commission which was formally established as a statutory agency in February has to decide how many TD's the next Dáil should have as well as the makeup of the geographical areas that will elect them.
The changes are required to take account of Ireland’s growing population.
Tim Carey of the Electoral Commission says that where possible when they are deciding the make-ups of the constituencies they try to avoid breaching the county boundaries.
Speaking on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics he said the Commission wants there to be continuity and they would like members of the public to engage with the process.
He says: "We're looking for information from the public to feed into that system which is very statistical and very cartographical.
"We know that this isn't just lines on a map, this is their real communities. This is their representation, their sense of belonging and democracy."
The commission will decide exactly how many TD’s Ireland needs to cater for population growth of 7.6% since 2016.
The constitution sets out there should be one TD per 20,000-30,000 people.
Based on the preliminary census data showing a population of 5.1 million, the current ratio is 1 per 32,000.
The Oireachtas has given the Commission license to create anywhere between 11 and 21 additional seats.
Depending on the number they land on, this will mean Ireland will have between 171 and 181 TDs.
Mr Carey characterised the process as "iterative".
He said they will be "looking around the country to see what's the best number to meet both the constitutional provision of one TD per 20-30,000 people, as well as equality of representation and the terms of reference".
The new seats will follow the population, so they are likely to be mainly based in the urban centres.
However, Mr Carey points out that all the constituencies are linked because the number of TDs per head of population has to be broadly similar across the country.
He said they have already received a number of submissions and many of them relate to respecting county boundaries.
While this is something the commission would like to do, he says it is not always possible.
Mr Carey says: "People like the idea of county boundaries being respected. So that is a fundamental part of the terms of reference and any breach of county boundary is taken quite seriously.
"It only happens when it is absolutely necessary and in order for equality of representation. It’s avoided wherever practical, but there are times when it has to be done."
The Commission will take submissions up to 10 May and the Commission will submit its report to the Oireachtas in August.
