TDs represent 43 constituencies and are directly elected for terms not exceeding five years, on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).

Its powers are similar to those of lower houses under many other bicameral parliamentary systems and it is by far the dominant branch of the Oireachtas.

Subject to the limits imposed by the Constitution of Ireland, it has power to pass any law it wishes, and to nominate and remove the Taoiseach (head of government).

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.

The Dáil electorate consists of Irish and British citizens over 18 years of age who are registered to vote in Ireland.

[9] 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.

This system offers wide voter choice but is accused by some of producing TDs who are excessively parochial.

[11] The Dáil chamber has confrontational benches but the end segment is curved to create a partial hemicycle.

The government TDs sit on the left of the Ceann Comhairle, with the main opposition party on their right.

On 6 December 1922, following the signing of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty which brought the Irish War of Independence to an end, the single chamber Dáil became the lower house of a new bicameral Oireachtas, the parliament of the newly established Irish Free State.

Article 28 of the Constitution of the Irish Free State (1922) set the maximum term for the Dáil at four years.

Since the coming into force of the 1937 constitution, no Irish government has proposed changing the maximum term of the Dáil, which still remains five years and was reconfirmed by legislation in 1992, which stated, "The same Dáil shall not continue for a longer period than five years from the date of its first meeting".

Once the presidential proclamation is issued, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage sets, by way of a ministerial order, the date and time of polling day in the election.

Since the Dáil was first established in 1919, it has also been described variously as a "National Assembly", a "Chamber of Deputies" [18] and a "House of Representatives".

The president, upon consultation with the Council of State, may refer a bill to the Supreme Court of Ireland to test its constitutionality.

The Dáil may also pass a motion of no confidence in the Government, in which case the Taoiseach must either seek a parliamentary dissolution or resign.

It has happened only once that the loss of confidence of the Dáil did not result in a general election: in 1994 John Bruton of Fine Gael became Taoiseach when the Labour Party left the Fianna Fáil coalition government led by Albert Reynolds.

The Dáil determines its own standing orders and its members are protected by certain rights arising from parliamentary privilege.

The Ceann Comhairle has ruled that it is disorderly for one deputy to describe another as a brat, buffoon, chancer, communist, corner boy, coward, fascist, gurrier, guttersnipe, hypocrite, rat, scumbag, scurrilous speaker or yahoo; or to insinuate that a TD is lying or drunk; or has violated the secrets of cabinet, or doctored an official report.

[23] The Dáil maintains a document, Salient Rulings of the Chair which covers behaviour in and out of the House by TDs; section 428 of this lists unparliamentary speech.

Division bells sound around Leinster House and in some of its adjoining buildings calling deputies to the chamber to vote.

Irish nationalists first convened Dáil Éireann as a revolutionary parliament in 1919 and while it successfully took over most functions of government it was not recognised under United Kingdom law.

Nonetheless, because the First Dáil was illegal under the United Kingdom constitution, the lower house of the Parliament of Southern Ireland, the House of Commons of Southern Ireland, is considered in British legal theory as the precursor to the Dáil.

The Irish Free State, comprising the twenty-six southern and western counties of Ireland, was established under the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty.

Dáil Éireann was the house of representatives, described in the new constitution as a "Chamber of Deputies, of a bicameral legislature called the Oireachtas of the Irish Free State."

[20] Under the constitution a new legislature retained the title Oireachtas, and its lower house remained Dáil Éireann.

During the COVID-19 pandemic and the necessity for social distancing, the Dáil temporarily sat at the Convention Centre Dublin from June 2020 to July 2021.