The 1944 Irish general election was held on Tuesday, 30 May, having been called on 9 May by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Douglas Hyde Douglas Ross Hyde ( ga, Dubhghlas de hÍde; 17 January 1860 – 12 July 1949), known as (), was an Irish academic, linguist, scholar of the Irish language, politician and diplomat who served as the first President of Ireland from June 1938 t ...

on the advice of

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of govern ...

. The general election took place in 34 parliamentary constituencies for 138 seats in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (parliament).

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...

won an

overall majority A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster members of the 12th Dáil The 12th Dáil was elected at the 1944 general election on 30 May 1944 and first met on 9 June 1944. The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature), of Ireland are known as TDs. The 12th Dáil was d ...

assembled on 9 June, de Valera was re-appointed as Taoiseach at the head of a majority government.

Campaign

The outgoing Fianna Fáil government was a minority government. Following a defeat for the

second reading A reading of a bill is a stage of debate on the bill held by a general body of a legislature. In the Westminster system, developed in the United Kingdom, there are generally three readings of a bill as it passes through the stages of becoming ...

of its Transport Bill, Taoiseach

called a

snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Generally, a snap election in a parliamentary system (the dissolution of parliament) is called to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity or to ...

, just one year after the previous election, in hopes of getting an overall majority. The campaign was not wanted by the opposition parties. Fianna Fáil fought the election on its record in government and also in the hope of securing a fresh mandate for its policies. During the campaign

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil � ...

put forward the proposal of forming a coalition government with the Labour Party and

Clann na Talmhan Clann na Talmhan (, "Family/Children of the land"; formally known as the ''National Agricultural Party'') was an Irish agrarian political party active between 1939 and 1965. Formation and growth Clann na Talmhan was founded on 29 June 1939 in ...

; however, this was ridiculed by Fianna Fáil as untenable. A split in the Labour movement meant that the party was by no means ready to fight an election. Due to the fractured nature of the opposition, Éamon de Valera's tactic of calling a snap general election succeeded, as it had in 1933 and 1938.

Dissolution

The election was fought while the

Emergency Powers Act 1939 The Emergency Powers Act 1939 (EPA) was an Act of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament) enacted on 3 September 1939, after an official state of emergency had been declared on 2 September 1939 in response to the outbreak of the Second World War. The ...

was still in force and under the terms of the General Elections (Emergency Provisions) Act 1943, which allowed a general election to be called without a

dissolution Dissolution may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books * ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers * ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music * Dissolution, in mu ...

of the 11th Dáil. The Constitution requires the President to dissolve the Dáil before a general election; however, this procedure was overridden by the General Elections (Emergency Provisions) Act 1943. The Act, which would have been unconstitutional if not for the state of emergency in effect during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, was intended to increase national security by minimising the interval during which no Dáil is in existence. The election was called on 9 May but the Dáil met as scheduled on the following day, when an

adjournment debate In the Westminster system, an adjournment debate is a debate on the motion, "That this House do now adjourn." In practice, this is a way of enabling the House to have a debate on a subject without considering a substantive motion. Types of deb ...

was held in which the opposition TDs condemned the decision to hold an election in wartime as unnecessary and reckless. The 11th Dáil was dissolved on 7 June 1944.

Result

Voting summary

Seats summary

Government formation

Fianna Fáil formed the 4th Government of Ireland, a majority government.

First-time TDs

* Thomas Brennan *

Harry Colley Henry Edward Colley (21 February 1891 – 18 January 1972) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North-East constituency from 1944 to 1957. He was also a Senator for the Labour Panel from 1957 ...

Eamonn Coogan Eamonn Coogan (30 November 1896 – 22 January 1948) was an Irish Fine Gael politician, barrister and Deputy Commissioner of the Garda Síochána. Early life He was born in Castlecomer, County Kilkenny, the only son of Timothy Coogan, a shopke ...

Walter Furlong Walter Furlong (1 September 1893 – 11 December 1973) was an Irish politician from Cork city, most successful as a member of Fianna Fáil. According to his death notice Furlong was in "G" Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Cork Brigade, Irish Repub ...

* Michael Lydon * Patrick McAuliffe * John S. O'Connor * Mary Ryan

Re-elected TDs

* John A. Costello *

Frank Loughman Francis Loughman (1892 – 13 May 1972) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) and Senator from the 1930s to the 1960s. A pharmaceutical chemist before entering politics, Loughman was first elected to Dáil É ...

Peter O'Loghlen Peter Joseph O'Loghlen (1883 – 25 October 1971) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. A publican, he was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish, T ...

* Eamonn O'Neill * Laurence Walsh * Richard Walsh (regained seat)

Outgoing TDs

* Ernest Benson (lost seat) *

W. T. Cosgrave William Thomas Cosgrave (5 June 1880 – 16 November 1965) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as the president of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1932, leader of the Opposition in both the Free State and Ir ...

(retired) * John Esmonde (lost seat) *

James Larkin James Larkin (28 January 1874 – 30 January 1947), sometimes known as Jim Larkin or Big Jim, was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. He was one of the founders of the Irish Labour Party along with James Connolly and Willia ...

(lost seat) * Timothy Linehan (lost seat) * Jeremiah Ryan (retired) * Richard Stapleton (lost seat)

Notes

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Irish General Election, 1944 1944 elections in Europe General election, 1944

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

12th Dáil May 1944 events General election