1981 Irish general election

1981 Irish general election

11 June 1981
166 seats in Dáil Éireann 84 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	76.2% Decrease 0.1pp
First party Second party Third party   Charles Haughey, 1990.jpg Garret FitzGerald 1975 (cropped).jpg Lab Leader Charles Haughey Garret FitzGerald Frank Cluskey Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Labour Leader since 7 December 1979 1977 1977 Leader's seat Dublin North-Central Dublin South-East Dublin South-Central (defeated) Last election 84 seats, 50.6% 43 seats, 30.5% 17 seats, 11.6% Seats won 78 65 15 Seat change Decrease 6 Increase 22 Decrease 2 Percentage 45.3% 36.5% 9.9% Swing Decrease 5.3% Increase 6.0% Decrease 1.7%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   AHB MacGiolla cropped.jpg SLP Leader Anti H-Block Committee Tomás Mac Giolla Noël Browne Party Anti H-Block Sinn Féin The Workers' Party Socialist Labour Leader since N/A 1977 1981 Leader's seat N/A N/A Dublin North-Central Last election New 0 seats, 1.7% New Seats won 2 1 1 Seat change New Increase 1 New Percentage 2.5% 1.7% 0.4% Swing New Steady New
File:1981 Irish general election.svg File:1981 Irish general election, seats per constituency.svg
Taoiseach before election Charles Haughey Fianna Fáil Taoiseach after election Garret FitzGerald Fine Gael

The 1981 Irish general election to the 22nd Dáil was held on Thursday, 11 June, following the dissolution of the 21st Dáil on 21 May by President Patrick Hillery on the request of Taoiseach Charles Haughey. The general election took place in 41 Dáil constituencies throughout Ireland for 166 seats in Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas. The number of seats in the Dáil was increased by 18 from 148 under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1980. The 22nd Dáil met at Leinster House on 30 June to nominate the Taoiseach for appointment by the president and to approve the appointment of a new government of Ireland. Garret FitzGerald was appointed Taoiseach, forming the 17th government of Ireland, a minority coalition government of Fine Gael and the Labour Party.

Campaign

The general election of 1981 was the first one of five during the 1980s. The election also saw three new leaders of the three main parties fight their first general election. Charles Haughey had become Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil at the end of 1979, Garret FitzGerald was the new leader of Fine Gael and Frank Cluskey was leading the Labour Party. Haughey and Fianna Fáil seemed extremely popular with the electorate in early 1981. He was expected to call the election at the time of the Fianna Fáil ardfheis on 14 February, but the Stardust fire caused the ardfheis to be postponed, and the Republican hunger strike in the Maze Prison began in March. By the dissolution in May, much of the earlier optimism in the party had filtered out. The Anti H-Block movement fielded abstentionist candidates in solidarity with the hunger strikers, undermining the Republican credentials of Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fáil's manifesto promised more spending programmes and Fine Gael put forward a series of tax-cutting plans.

Result

Election to the 22nd Dáil – 11 June 1981
File:Irish general election 1981.svg
Party		Leader	Seats	±	% of seats	First pref. votes	% FPv	±%
	Fianna Fáil	Charles Haughey	78	–6	47.0	777,616	45.3	–5.3
	Fine Gael	Garret FitzGerald	65	+22	39.2	626,376	36.5	+6.0
	Labour	Frank Cluskey	15	–2	9.0	169,990	9.9	–1.7
	Anti H-Block	None	2	New	1.2	42,803	2.5	–
	Sinn Féin The Workers' Party	Tomás Mac Giolla	1	+1	0.6	29,561	1.7	0
	Socialist Labour	Noël Browne	1	New	0.6	7,107	0.4	–
	Socialist Party	Eamonn O'Brien	0	New	0	571	0.0	–
	Communist	Eugene McCartan	0	0	0.0	358	0.0	–
	Independent	N/A	4	0	2.4	63,829	3.7	–1.8
Spoilt votes						16,168	—	—
Total			166	+18	100	1,734,379	100	—
Electorate/Turnout						2,275,450	76.2%	—

Independents include Independent Fianna Fáil (13,546 votes, 1 seat).

Voting summary

First preference vote Fianna Fáil   45.26% Fine Gael   36.36% Labour   9.89% Anti H-Block   2.49% Sinn Féin (Workers' Party)   1.72% Others   0.46% Independent   3.71%

Seats summary

Dáil seats Fianna Fáil   46.99% Fine Gael   39.16% Labour   9.04% Anti H-Block   1.20% Sinn Féin (Workers' Party)   0.60% Socialist Labour Party   0.60% Independent   2.41%

Government formation

Fianna Fáil lost seats as a result of sympathy to the Anti H-Block candidates and the attractive tax proposals of Fine Gael. It was the worst performance for Fianna Fáil in twenty years. Meanwhile, Labour Party leader Frank Cluskey lost his seat, necessitating a leadership change with Michael O'Leary succeeding Cluskey. A Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition government came to power. Fine Gael and the Labour Party formed the 17th Government of Ireland, a minority coalition government, with Garret FitzGerald becoming Taoiseach.

Dáil membership changes

The following changes took place at this election:

• 20 outgoing TDs retired
• 18 additional seats added to the Dáil
• 127 outgoing TDs stood for re-election (also Pádraig Faulkner, the outgoing Ceann Comhairle who was automatically returned)
  • 109 of those were re-elected
  • 18 failed to be re-elected
• 56 successor TDs were elected
  • 50 were elected for the first time
  • 6 had previously been TDs
• There were 7 successor female TDs, replacing 3 outgoing, increasing the total by 4 to 11.

Where more than one change took place in a constituency the concept of successor is an approximation for presentation only. Where a number of related constituency changes took place in an area, such as Cork, the outgoing constituency for retiring TDs and the allocation of new seats are approximations for presentation only. Outgoing TDs re-elected in a new constituency, with no related changes, are not recorded as a change

Constituency	Departing TD	Party		Change	Comment	Successor TD	Party
Carlow–Kilkenny	Jim Gibbons		Fianna Fáil	Lost seat	Governey: Former TD	Desmond Governey		Fine Gael
Cavan–Monaghan	Jimmy Leonard		Fianna Fáil	Lost seat	Doherty: Was on hunger strike at the time of his election	Kieran Doherty		Anti H-Block
Clare	Frank Taylor		Fine Gael	Retired		Madeleine Taylor		Fine Gael
	Seat added				Loughnane: moved from Galway West	Bill Loughnane		Fianna Fáil
Cork East	Jerry Cronin		Fianna Fáil	Retired (from Cork North-East)		Carey Joyce		Fianna Fáil
	Richard Barry		Fine Gael	Retired (from Cork North-East)	First TD to be elected for Official Sinn Féin/The Workers' Party.	Joe Sherlock		Sinn Féin The Workers' Party
Cork North-Central	Jack Lynch		Fianna Fáil	Retired (from Cork City)		Denis Lyons		Fianna Fáil
	Seat added					Bernard Allen		Fine Gael
	Seat added					Toddy O'Sullivan		Labour
Cork North-West						Frank Crowley		Fine Gael
Cork South-Central	Barry Cogan		Fianna Fáil	Lost seat (moved from Cork Mid)		Hugh Coveney		Fine Gael
Cork South-West	Michael Pat Murphy		Labour	Retired		P. J. Sheehan		Fine Gael
	Joe Walsh		Fianna Fáil	Lost seat	Crowley: Former TD	Flor Crowley		Fianna Fáil
Donegal North-East	No membership changes
Donegal South-West	Seat added					Pat "the Cope" Gallagher		Fianna Fáil
Dublin North	Joe Fox		Fianna Fáil	Lost seat (moved from Dublin County North)		Nora Owen		Fine Gael
Dublin North-Central	Seat added					George Birmingham		Fine Gael
Dublin Central	Vivion de Valera		Fianna Fáil	Retired (from Dublin Cabra)	(Ahern: moved from Dublin Finglas)	Bertie Ahern		Fianna Fáil
	Tom Leonard		Fianna Fáil	Lost seat (moved from Dublin Cabra)	(Colley: from Dublin Clontarf)	George Colley		Fianna Fáil
	Luke Belton		Fine Gael	Lost seat (moved from Dublin Finglas)		Alice Glenn		Fine Gael
Dublin North-East						Liam Fitzgerald		Fianna Fáil
						Seán Loftus		Independent
Dublin North-West						Mary Flaherty		Fine Gael
	Timothy Killeen		Fianna Fáil	Lost seat (moved from Dublin Artane)		Michael Barrett		Fianna Fáil
Dublin South						Nuala Fennell		Fine Gael
	Síle de Valera		Fianna Fáil	Lost seat (moved from Dublin County Mid)		Séamus Brennan		Fianna Fáil
	John Horgan		Labour	Lost seat(moved from Dublin County South)		Alan Shatter		Fine Gael
Dublin South-West						Mary Harney		Fianna Fáil
						Mervyn Taylor		Labour
Dublin West					Burke: Former TD	Richard Burke		Fine Gael
	Mark Clinton		Fine Gael	Retired (from Dublin County West)		Brian Fleming		Fine Gael
	Liam Lawlor		Fianna Fáil	Lost seat (moved from Dublin County West)	(Lemass: from Dublin Ballyfermot)	Eileen Lemass		Fianna Fáil
Dublin South-Central	Seat added				(Briscoe: from Dublin Rathmines West)	Ben Briscoe		Fianna Fáil
	Seat added					Gay Mitchell		Fine Gael
	Frank Cluskey		Labour	Lost seat	(O'Connell:from Dublin Ballyfermot)	John O'Connell		Independent
Dublin South-East	Seat added				(Brady: from Dublin Rathimines West)	Gerard Brady		Fianna Fáil
	Ruairi Quinn		Labour	Lost seat	(Ryan: from Dublin Rathimines West)	Richie Ryan		Fine Gael
Dún Laoghaire	Liam Cosgrave		Fine Gael	Retired		Liam T. Cosgrave		Fine Gael
	Seat added					Sean Barrett		Fine Gael
Galway East	John Donnellan		Fine Gael	(moved to Galway West)		Paul Connaughton Snr		Fine Gael
	Mark Killilea Jnr		Fianna Fáil	(moved to Galway West)	Kitt: Former TD	Michael P. Kitt		Fianna Fáil
	Thomas Hussey		Fianna Fáil	Lost seat	Seat abolished
Galway West	John Mannion Jnr		Fine Gael	Retired	(Donnellan: from Galway East)	John Donnellan		Fine Gael
	Seat added					Michael D. Higgins		Labour
	Bill Loughnane		Fianna Fáil	(moved to Clare)	(Killilea moved from Galway East)	Mark Killilea Jnr		Fianna Fáil
Kerry North	Kit Ahern		Fianna Fáil	Lost seat		Denis Foley		Fianna Fáil
	Dan Spring		Labour	Retired		Dick Spring		Labour
Kerry South	Timothy O'Connor		Fianna Fáil	Lost seat		Michael Moynihan		Labour
Kildare	Seat added					Bernard Durkan		Fine Gael
	Seat added					Alan Dukes		Fine Gael
Laois–Offaly	Patrick Lalor		Fianna Fáil	Retired		Liam Hyland		Fianna Fáil
Limerick East	Michael Herbert		Fianna Fáil	Retired		Peadar Clohessy		Fianna Fáil
	Michael Lipper		Labour	Lost seat		Jim Kemmy		Independent
	Seat added					Michael Noonan		Fine Gael
Limerick West	No membership changes
Longford–Westmeath	Joseph Sheridan		Independent	Retired	Cooney: Former TD	Patrick Cooney		Fine Gael
Louth	Paddy Donegan		Fine Gael	Retired		Bernard Markey		Fine Gael
	Joseph Farrell		Fianna Fáil	Retired	Republican prisoner in Long Kesh, not on hunger strike.	Paddy Agnew		Anti H-Block
Mayo East	No membership changes
Mayo West	No membership changes
Meath	Seat added					John Farrelly		Fine Gael
Roscommon	Joan Burke		Fine Gael	Retired		John Connor		Fine Gael
Sligo–Leitrim	James Gallagher		Fianna Fáil	Retired		John Ellis		Fianna Fáil
	Eugene Gilhawley		Fine Gael	Retired		Joe McCartin		Fine Gael
	Seat added					Ted Nealon		Fine Gael
Tipperary North	Michael O'Kennedy		Fianna Fáil	Retired		David Molony		Fine Gael
Tipperary South	Noel Davern		Fianna Fáil	Retired		Carrie Acheson		Fianna Fáil
	Seat added					Seán McCarthy		Fianna Fáil
Waterford	No membership changes
Wexford	Seán Browne		Fianna Fáil	Lost seat		Hugh Byrne		Fianna Fáil
	Seat added					Ivan Yates		Fine Gael
Wicklow	Seat added				Brennan: Former TD	Paudge Brennan		Fianna Fáil

Seanad election

The Dáil election was followed by an election to the 15th Seanad.

Further reading

• Nealon, Ted; Brennan, Séamus, eds. (8 May 1981). Nealon's guide: 22nd Dáil & Seanad: election '81. Platform Press. ISBN 0-9505984-3-7.