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The Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland (BCNI) is an Advisory Non-departmental Public Body sponsored and funded by the Northern Ireland Office. It is an independent, non-political body constituted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 as amended by the Boundary Commissions Act 1992 which sets out the Commission's duties and powers. Full details of the legislation surrounding the work of the Commission are available on the Legislation page of this website.
The role of BCNI is to keep under continuous review the number, names and boundaries of the parliamentary constituencies into which Northern Ireland is divided and to make recommendations about these to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Full reviews are carried out approximately every 10 years, with the interim reviews carried out between full reviews, if necessary.
BCNI's Fifth Periodical Report (pdf 1,221kb) details the boundaries and names of the 18 parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland. The report contains maps which show the constituency boundaries used for the May 2010 election (in red) and the boundaries used in the previous election (in blue). These maps have been reproduced separately for convenience and be found on the Maps page of this website.
The Northern Ireland Act 1998 provides that the parliamentary constituencies will also form the constituencies for elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly, with each constituency returning six members.
Further information on the role of BCNI can be found in the Explanatory Note (pdf 63kb). If you have other questions please take a look in our FAQ section.
