The 1957 Irish general election to the

16th Dáil 16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. 16 is a composite number, and a square number, being 42 = 4 × 4. It is the smallest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being , , and . In English speech, ...

was held on Tuesday, 5 March, following a dissolution of the 15th Dáil on 12 February 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 ...

Seán T. O'Kelly on the request 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 ...

John A. Costello on 4 February. It was the longest election campaign in the history of the state, spanning 30 days. The general election took place in 40

Dáil constituencies There are 39 multi-member electoral districts, known as Dáil constituencies, that elect 160 TDs (members of parliament), to Dáil Éireann, Ireland's lower house of the Oireachtas, or parliament, by means of the single transferable vote, ...

throughout Ireland for 147 seats in Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas. The 16th Dáil met at

Leinster House Leinster House ( ga, Teach Laighean) is the seat of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Ireland. Originally, it was the ducal palace of the Dukes of Leinster. Since 1922, it is a complex of buildings, of which the former ducal palace is the core, ...

on 20 March to nominate the Taoiseach for appointment by the president and to approve the appointment of a new

government of Ireland The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The gover ...

. Costello lost office, and

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 ...

was appointed Taoiseach, forming the 8th Government of Ireland, a single-party majority Fianna Fáil government.

Campaign

The 1957 general election was precipitated by the crisis in the trade balance and the government's reaction to it. As a result of this crisis, Fianna Fáil tabled a motion of no confidence in the inter-party government of Fine Gael, Labour Party (Ireland), Labour and Clann na Talmhan. The Dáil has been scheduled to resume on 13 February. Rather than face defeat in the vote, on 4 February the

John A. Costello, sought a dissolution of the Dáil for 12 February. The campaign was fought largely over economic issues and the situation in Northern Ireland. In the North, the IRA had launched Border Campaign (Irish Republican Army), Operation Harvest which drew much popular support in the south. Sinn Féin had been re-built and re-organized as a party by Paddy McLogan and was fielding abstentionist candidates. Fianna Fáil had produced a major policy document in January, criticising many of its own policies in regard to the economy. While they did not know an election was imminent this became the backbone of their manifesto. The importance of free trade was played up by Fianna Fáil in a clear rejection of the protectionist policies they had advocated in the past. The architect of many of these new policies was the spokesperson for Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Industry and Commerce and the heir-apparent of the party, Seán Lemass. At 75 years of age

was fighting his last general election as leader of the party. In spite of his age, he carried out a vigorous campaign, often being accompanied by brass bands and torch-lit processions. The Fianna Fáil message was simple: coalition governments were unstable. The other parties, most of them having enjoyed a stint in government over the previous three years, fought the election on their record in office, Fine Gael in particular. Clann na Talmhan failed to broaden their appeal and remained the voice of the farmers. Clann na Poblachta under Seán MacBride had agreed not to stand in constituencies where Sinn Féin were fielding candidates and lost two of its three seats. Sinn Féin, fighting one of its first post-war elections on an abstentionism, abstentionist ticket won 4 seats.

Result

Voting summary

Seats summary

Government formation

Fianna Fáil majority government formed. Éamon de Valera became Taoiseach for the last time.

Change in membership

First time TDs

*Kevin Boland (Appointed Minister for Defence (Ireland), Minister for Defence on his first day in the Dáil) *Lionel Booth *Seán Browne *Batt Donegan *Paddy Clohessy *Patrick Dooley (politician), Patrick Dooley *Pádraig Faulkner *Jim Gibbons (Irish politician), Jim Gibbons *Charles Haughey *Gus Healy *Brigid Hogan-O'Higgins, Brigid Hogan *John Joe McGirl *Jack Murphy (Irish politician), Jack Murphy *Ruairí Ó Brádaigh *Eighneachán Ó hAnnluain *James O'Toole (Irish politician), James O'Toole *John Joe Rice *Patrick Tierney (Irish politician), Patrick Tierney

Re-elected TDs

*Frank Loughman

Outgoing TDs

*Patrick Crowe (Lost seat) *Seán Collins (politician), Seán Collins (Lost seat) *Peadar Doyle (Retired) *Brendan Glynn (Retired) *James Hession (Lost seat) *Edward Kelly (Monaghan politician), Edward Kelly (Lost seat) *Joseph Roddy (Lost seat) *Thomas Walsh (Irish politician), Thomas Walsh (Deceased)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irish General Election, 1957 1957 elections in Europe 1957 in Irish politics, General election, 1957 General elections in the Republic of Ireland, 1957 16th Dáil 1957 elections in the Republic of Ireland, General election March 1957 events in Europe