The Laois Offaly parliamentary constituency spans the entire area of both the Leinster counties, taking in Tullamore, Birr, Portarlington and Portlaoise. The constituency has an electorate of 95,373 and at present is served by 5 Teachtaí Dála (TDs). The method of election is proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. Leinster (Irish: Laighin) is the eastern province of Ireland, comprising the counties of Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow. ... Note: There is also a Tullamore in New South Wales, Australia. ... Birr (Biorra in Irish) is a town in the Midlands county of Offaly in the Republic of Ireland. ... Portarlington (Cúil an tSúdaire in Irish, meaning Tanners Corner) is a town in County Laois, straddling the border with County Offaly in the midlands of Ireland. ... Portlaoise (from Irish), or Maryborough, is a town in County Laois, Republic of Ireland, located near the midlands of Ireland. ... TD or td may stand for: Chad, ISO country code tank destroyer Teachta Dála (TD), Member of lower house of Irish Parliament, Dáil Éireann Territorial Decoration, awarded for twelve years service in the British Territorial Army touchdown Toronto-Dominion Bank and TD Bank Financial Group Tower Defense tracking dog trust... Proportional representation (PR) is any of various multi-winner electoral systems which try to ensure that the proportional support gained by different groups is accurately reflected in the election result. ... The Single Transferable Vote, or STV, is a preference voting system designed to minimise wasted votes in multi-candidate elections while ensuring that votes are explicitly for candidates rather than party lists. ...

One of the most high profile TDs in the constituency is the current Minister for Finance and a man widely tipped to be a future Taoiseach, Brian Cowen. Another well known deputy from the area is Tom Parlon. He is a former president of the Irish Farmers Association. The Irish Minister for Finance is the second most important ministerial position in the Irish Cabinet after that of the Taoiseach. ... The Taoiseach (plural: Taoisigh) or, more formally, An Taoiseach, is the head of government of the Republic of Ireland and the leader of the Irish cabinet1. ...

Irish General Election, 2002

The first five candidates in bold type indicate the current representatives in Dáil Éireann for Laois Offaly. The full results are as follows: The Irish general election of 2002 was held on Friday 17 May 2002, just over three weeks after the dissolution of the 28th Dáil on Thursday 25 April by President Mary McAleese, at the request of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern. ... Dáil Éireann is the lower house of the Oireachtas (parliament) of the Republic of Ireland1. ...

The Irish Minister for Finance Brian Cowen, TD Brian Cowen (born January 1960) is a senior Irish Fianna Fáil politician. ... Fianna Fáil - The Republican Party (IPA ; English translation: Soldiers of Destiny) is the largest political party in Ireland. ... Tom Parlon is an Irish Progressive Democrats politician. ... The Progressive Democrats (in Irish An Páirtí Daonlathach) is a free market liberal party in the Republic of Ireland founded in 1985. ... Fianna Fáil - The Republican Party (IPA ; English translation: Soldiers of Destiny) is the largest political party in Ireland. ... Olwyn Enright is an Irish Fine Gael politician. ... Fine Gael (United Ireland) (IPA ) is the second largest political party in both the Republic of Ireland and Ireland as a whole. ... Fianna Fáil - The Republican Party (IPA ; English translation: Soldiers of Destiny) is the largest political party in Ireland. ... Fine Gael (United Ireland) (IPA ) is the second largest political party in both the Republic of Ireland and Ireland as a whole. ... Fianna Fáil - The Republican Party (IPA ; English translation: Soldiers of Destiny) is the largest political party in Ireland. ... The name Sinn Féin pronounced Shin-Feyn (in the Irish language ourselves or we ourselves; not as sometimes incorrectly translated, ourselves alone or we alone) has been applied to a series of political movements since 1905 in Ireland, each of which claim or claimed sole descent from the original party... The Irish Labour Party (Irish: Páirti an Lucht Oibre) is the third largest political party in the Republic of Ireland. ... The Green Party/Comhaontas Glas) was founded as the Ecology Party of Ireland in 1981. ...

See also

• Parliamentary constituencies in the Republic of Ireland
• Politics of the Republic of Ireland
• Political parties in the Republic of Ireland
• Elections in Ireland