Irish general election, February 1982

Irish general election, February 1982

18 February 1982

165 of 166 seats in Dáil Éireann 83 seats were needed for a majority Turnout 73.8%   First party Second party   Leader Charles Haughey Garret FitzGerald Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Leader since 7 December 1979 1977 Leader's seat Dublin North-Central Dublin South-East Last election 78 seats, 45.3% 65 seats, 36.5% Seats won 81 63 Seat change 4 2 Popular vote 786,851 621,088 Percentage 47.3% 37.3% Swing 2.0% 0.8%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Michael O'Leary Tomás Mac Giolla Party Labour Party Sinn Féin (Workers' Party) Leader since 1981 1977 Leader's seat Dublin Central N/A Last election 15 seats, 9.9% 1 seat, 1.7% Seats won 15 3 Seat change 0 2 Popular vote 151,875 38,088 Percentage 9.1% 2.3% Swing 0.8% 0.6%

Percentage of seats gained by each of the three major parties, and number of seats gained by smaller parties and independents.

Taoiseach before election Garret FitzGerald Fine Gael Subsequent Taoiseach Charles Haughey Fianna Fáil

The Irish general election of February 1982 was held on 18 February 1982, three weeks after the dissolution of the Dáil on 27 January. The newly elected 166 members of the 23rd Dáil assembled at Leinster House on 9 March when a new Taoiseach and government were appointed.

The general election took place in 41 parliamentary constituencies throughout Ireland for 166 seats in the lower house of parliament, Dáil Éireann.

Campaign

The first general election of 1982 was caused by the sudden collapse of the Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition government when the budget was defeated. The Minister for Finance John Bruton, attempted to put VAT on children shoes, a measure which was rejected by Jim Kemmy, a left-wing independent Teachta Dála and Joe Sherlock of the Workers' Party of Ireland. The Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald immediately sought a dissolution of the Dáil. However, while he was with President Patrick Hillery at Áras an Uachtaráin, a number of Fianna Fáil members attempted to ring the President, urging him not to grant a dissolution. If the President refused a dissolution, FitzGerald would have to resign and Fianna Fáil would be invited to form a government. The attempt to contact the President was highly unconstitutional, as the President can only take advice from the Taoiseach. In the event, a dissolution was granted and the general election campaign began in earnest.

The campaign was largely fought on economic issues. Spending cuts were a reality for whatever party won, but the scale of the cuts were played down by all parties. Fine Gael proposed to continue the policies that it had been implementing while in office. The Fianna Fáil leader Charles Haughey dismissed the need for budget cuts when the campaign first began, however, the reality soon became apparent and the party adopted similar policies that involved budget cuts.

Result

Independents include Independent Fianna Fáil (11,732 votes, 1 seat).

• Fianna Fáil minority government formed.

Fianna Fáil emerged as the largest party and looked most likely to form a government. However, internal divisions within the party threatened Charles Haughey's nomination for Taoiseach. In the end a leadership challenge did not take place and Haughey was the party's nominee for Taoiseach. Haughey gained the support of the Independent Socialist TD Tony Gregory, the Independent Fianna Fáil TD Neil Blaney and the three Sinn Féin the Workers Party deputies and was appointed Taoiseach.

Dáil membership changes

The following changes took place as a result of the election:

• 7 outgoing TDs retired
• 1 vacant seat at election time
• 157 outgoing TDs stood for re-election (also John O'Connell, the outgoing Ceann Comhairle who was automatically returned)
  • 136 of those were re-elected
  • 21 failed to be re-elected
• 29 successor TDs were elected
  • 21 were elected for the first time
  • 8 had previously been TDs
• There was 1 successor female TD, replacing 4 outgoing, thus the total decreased by 3 to 8.
• There were changes in 26 of 41 constituencies

Where more than one change took place in a constituency the concept of successor is an approximation for presentation only.

See also

• Members of the 23rd Dáil
• Government of the 23rd Dáil

References

External links

• February 1982 election: Party leaders' debate RTÉ archives

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