section_path: Composition
section_name: Composition
paragraph_text: Composition
  
  The Dáil has 174 members. The number is set within the limits of the Constitution of Ireland, which sets a minimum ratio of one member per 20,000 of the population, and a maximum of one per 30,000. Under current legislation, members are directly elected for terms not exceeding five years by the people of Ireland under a system of proportional representation known as the single transferable vote. Currently every Dáil constituency elects three, four or five TDs.
  
  Membership of the Dáil is open to Irish citizens who are 21 or older. A member of the Dáil is a Teachta Dála and is known generally as a TD or Deputy.
  
  The Dáil electorate consists of Irish and British citizens over 18 years of age who are registered to vote in Ireland. Under the Constitution a general election for Dáil Éireann must occur once in every seven years, but an earlier maximum of five years is set by the Electoral Act 1992. The Taoiseach (head of government or prime minister) can, at any time, make a request to the president to dissolve the Dáil, in which case a general election must occur within thirty days. The President may refuse to grant the dissolution to a Taoiseach who has ceased to retain the support of a majority in the Dáil; to date, no request for a dissolution has been refused.