The 1961 Irish general election to the

17th Dáil 17 (seventeen) is the natural number following 16 and preceding 18. It is a prime number. Seventeen is the sum of the first four prime numbers. In mathematics 17 is the seventh prime number, which makes seventeen the fourth super-prime, as s ...

was held on Wednesday, 4 October, following the dissolution of 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, ...

on 15 September by President Éamon de Valera on the request of Taoiseach Seán Lemass. The general election took place in 38 Dáil constituencies throughout Ireland for 144 seats in

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...

, the house of representatives of the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The bicameralism, two houses of the Oireachtas ...

, which had been reduced in size by three seats from the previous election by the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1961. Fianna Fáil lost its majority but remained the dominant party The 17th Dáil met at Leinster House on 11 October to nominate the Taoiseach for appointment by the president and to approve the appointment of a new government of Ireland. Lemass was re-appointed Taoiseach, forming the

10th Government of Ireland 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit (measurement), unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment ...

, a single-party minority Fianna Fáil government.

Campaign

At the general election of 1961, the three main parties were led by new leaders: Seán Lemass had taken charge of Fianna Fáil in 1959, making this the first time Fianna Fáil faced a general election campaign without Éamon de Valera (who had become President of Ireland in 1959). James Dillon had taken over at Fine Gael in 1959 also, while the Labour Party was now under the leadership of Brendan Corish. Lemass announced the date of the election on 8 September, with the dissolution to take place a week later on 15 September. It was the shortest period between the dissolution and the election permitted in law. While the election was caused by the "crisis" surrounding Ireland's application for membership of the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

and various other international affairs, little attention was paid to these matters during the campaign; the 1961 general election has become known as the dullest campaign on record, with the most important issue being the teaching of the

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

in schools. Fianna Fáil fought the election on its record in government and a reforming theme; Fine Gael presented itself as the party of free enterprise. The Labour Party campaigned strongly against the "conservative" Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parties. It also favoured major expansion in the public sector. It was the first and only general election contested by the National Progressive Democrats led by

Noël Browne Noël Christopher Browne (20 December 1915 – 21 May 1997) was an Irish politician who served as Minister for Health from 1948 to 1951 and Leader of the National Progressive Democrats from 1958 to 1963. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1 ...

Result

Voting summary

Seats summary

Government formation

The

met on 11 October 1961. Fianna Fáil were short of a majority, with 70 of the 144 seats in the Dáil, but were able to form a new single-party government, the

, with the support of Independent TDs.

Changes in membership

First-time TDs

* Lorcan Allen *

Mark Clinton Mark A. Clinton (7 February 1915 – 23 December 2001) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Minister for Agriculture from 1973 to 1977. He served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Leinster constituency from 1979 to 1 ...

* George Colley * Patrick Connor *

Paddy Harte Patrick Harte (26 July 1931 – 8 January 2018) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served for 36 years as Teachta Dála (TD) for Donegal North-East. Early life and family He was born in 1931 in Lifford, County Donegal. His son, Jimmy Harte ...

* Brian Lenihan * Tom O'Donnell * Séamus Pattison *

Eugene Timmons Eugene Timmons (died 13 May 1999) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He attended St. Joseph's Secondary C.B.S. in Fairview. An office worker, Timmons was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin ...

Seán Treacy Seán Allis Treacy ( ga, Seán Ó Treasaigh; 14 February 1895 – 14 October 1920) was one of the leaders of the Third Tipperary Brigade of the IRA during the Irish War of Independence. He was one of a small group whose actions initiated tha ...

Re-elected TDs

* Seán Collins

Outgoing TDs

Batt Donegan Bartholomew Donegan (21 December 1910 – 26 August 1978) was a Fianna Fáil politician from County Cork in Ireland. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1957 to 1961, and a Senator from 1963 to 1965. A farmer and horse breeder, Donegan stood unsuc ...

(lost seat) * Patrick Giles (retired) *

Gus Healy Augustine A. Healy (20 May 1904 – 10 July 1987) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. A dental laboratory proprietor, Healy was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork Borough constituency at the 195 ...

(lost seat) *

Denis Larkin Denis Larkin (1908 – 2 July 1987) was an Irish Labour Party (Ireland), Labour Party politician and trade union official. He was the son of Dublin trade union leader, James Larkin. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Labour Party Teachta ...

(lost seat) *

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 ...

(lost seat) *

Peadar Maher Peadar Maher (1 February 1924 – 31 January 2012) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as a Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éir ...

(retired) * Richard Mulcahy (retired) * James O'Toole (lost seat) * Oscar Traynor (retired)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irish General Election, 1961 1961 elections in Europe General election, 1961 1961 in Irish politics

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

17th Dáil October 1961 events in Europe