A TD or Teachta Dála (Irish for 'Dáil Deputy', pronounced 'chock-ta dawla') is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower chamber of the Irish Oireachtas (pronounced 'orr-och-tas') or National Parliament.
The term was first used to describe those Irish MPs elected in the 1918 general election from the island of Ireland who instead of attending the WestminsterHouse of Commons, to which they had been elected, assembled instead in Dublin to create a new Irish parliament, Dáil Éireann. The initials T.D. are placed after the surname of the TD elected. For example, the current Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) is referred to as 'Bertie Ahern, TD'. The style used to refer to individual TDs during debates in Dáil Éireann is the member's name preceded by 'Deputy' (or 'an Teachta' in Irish): for example, Deputy Quinn, an Teachta Carey.
The initials TD have been used to refer to members of every Irish parliament since that First Dáil assembled in 1919. It was used to refer to members of the Irish Republic's single chamber Dáil Éireann (translated as the 'Assembly of Ireland') (1919-1922), members of Dáil Éireann (translated as 'Chamber of Deputies') during the Irish Free State (1922-1937) and the Dáil Éireann (translated as the 'House of Representatives') of Éire (1937-present) and the Republic of Ireland.
(See Dáil Éireann for additional information on the election system and current composition of the house.)
A Teachta Dála, or TD, is an elected member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of parliament in the Republic of Ireland.
Currently the ratio is about one TD for every 21,000 people in the Republic of Ireland, for a total of 166 TDs.
Anyone who is a citizen of Ireland and over 21 years of age is eligible to run for election as a TD but, as with most democracies, Irish elections tend to have many candidates running for the limited number of seats.
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