The 1969 Irish general election to the

19th Dáil 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics 19 is the eighth prime number, and forms a sexy prime with 13, a twin prime with 17, and a cousin prime with 23. It is the third full re ...

was held on Wednesday, 18 June, following the

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

18th Dáil 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. In mathematics * Eighteen is a composite number, its divisors being 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9. Three of these divisors (3, 6 and 9) add up to 18, hence 18 is a semiperfect number. ...

on 22 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Jack Lynch. The general election took place in 42

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 144 seats in Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas, with boundary changes under the

Electoral (Amendment) Act 1969 The Electoral (Amendment) Act 1969 (No. 3) was a law of Ireland which revised Dáil constituencies. It took effect on the dissolution of the 18th Dáil on 22 May 1969 and a general election for the 19th Dáil on the revised constituencies too ...

. The governing

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 its fourth successive election. The 19th 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 21 April 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 ...

. Lynch was re-appointed Taoiseach, forming the 13th Government of Ireland, a single-party minority

government.

Campaign

The general election of 1969 saw two new leaders of the two main parties fight their first general election. Jack Lynch of

had become

in 1966 and was attempting to win his first election. Liam Cosgrave had taken charge of

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 � ...

in 1965 and was now leading his party into his first election.

Brendan Corish Brendan Corish (19 November 1918 – 17 February 1990) was an Irish Labour Party politician who served as Tánaiste and Minister for Health from 1973 to 1977, Leader of the Labour Party, Minister for Social Welfare from 1954 to 1957 and from ...

was fighting his third general election as leader of the Labour Party. Fianna Fáil had been in power since 1957, and in spite of media predictions the party was still very popular with the voters. Its leader Jack Lynch proved to be the party's biggest electoral asset. His quiet, easy-going and reassuring style, coupled with the catchy slogan "Let's back Jack!", attracted many new voters to Fianna Fáil. The party had introduced many innovative pieces of legislation during the 1960s and was now looking for a fresh mandate. Fianna Fáil were also helped by a deeply divided opposition. Fine Gael had internal divisions. There was tension between the older conservative members, who wanted to keep the party as it was, and the younger deputies who wanted to move the party to the left. One of the party's policies proposed to abolish compulsory Irish for State examinations and civil service jobs. The Labour Party on the other hand were predicted to make gains after firmly ruling out a pre-election pact with Fine Gael. The party fielded a number of new, high-profile candidates, including

Justin Keating Justin Pascal Keating (7 January 1930 – 31 December 2009) was an Irish Labour Party politician, broadcaster, journalist, lecturer and veterinary surgeon. In later life he was president of the Humanist Association of Ireland. Keating was twi ...

Conor Cruise O'Brien Donal Conor David Dermot Donat Cruise O'Brien (3 November 1917 – 18 December 2008), often nicknamed "The Cruiser", was an Irish diplomat, politician, writer, historian and academic, who served as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs from 1973 ...

David Thornley David Thornley (31 July 1935 – 18 June 1978) was an Irish Labour Party politician and university professor at Trinity College Dublin. Life Born in Surrey, England, David Thornley took out Irish citizenship. He received a BA and PhD at Trini ...

and

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 ...

. The slogan "The Seventies will be Socialist" was popular with Labour supporters; however, Fianna Fáil played the "red card", linking the Labour Party with

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

. The tactic worked successfully.

Result

The result marked a third successive victory for Fianna Fáil, led by Jack Lynch. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael each lost votes, yet gained seats. Labour gained votes, yet lost seats. It was the last re-election of an Irish government for thirty-three years—until the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats government was re-elected with an increased majority in the 2002 general election.

Voting summary

Seats summary

Government formation

formed the 13th Government of Ireland, a majority government, led by Jack Lynch as Taoiseach.

Changes in membership

First time TDs

A total of 37 TDs were elected for the first time: * Peter Barry * Michael Begley *

Seán Brosnan Seán Brosnan (21 December 1916 – 18 April 1979) was an Irish barrister and Fianna Fáil politician. He served for 10 years in the Oireachtas, as a Teachta Dála (TD) and as a senator. Brosnan was a native of Dingle, County Kerry. He was ...

John Bruton John Gerard Bruton (born 18 May 1947) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 1994 to 1997, Ambassador of the European Union to the United States from 2004 to 2009, Leader of Fine Gael from 1990 to 2001, Leader o ...

Liam Burke Liam Burke (2 February 1928 – 21 August 2005) was an Irish Fine Gael politician. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork North-Central constituency. Burke was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1969 general election for Cork City North-Wes ...

* Richard Burke * Hugh Byrne * Edward Collins * John Conlan * Ger Connolly * Gerard Cott * Bernard Cowen *

Kieran Crotty Kieran Crotty (20 August 1930 – 22 July 2022) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency from 1969 to 1989. Crotty was first elected to the Dáil following the 1969 general e ...

Noel Davern Noel Davern (24 December 1945 – 27 October 2013) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister of State from 1997 to 2002 and Minister for Education from 1991 to 1992. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Tipperary South c ...

Barry Desmond Barry Seán Desmond (born 15 May 1935) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as a Member of the European Court of Auditors from 1994 to 2000, Minister for Health from 1982 to 1987, Minister for Social Welfare from 1982 to 198 ...

Tom Enright Thomas W. Enright (born 26 July 1940) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Laois–Offaly constituency from 1969 to 1992 and 1997 to 2002. He also served as a Senator for the Administrative Panel fr ...

* Martin Finn * Garret FitzGerald * Paddy Forde * Billy Fox * Michael Herbert * Thomas Hussey *

Liam Kavanagh Liam is a short form of the Irish name Uilliam or the old Germanic name William. Etymology The original name was a merging of two Old German elements: ''willa'' ("will" or "resolution"); and ''helma'' ("helmet"). The juxtaposition of these elem ...

* Bill Loughnane * Gerard Lynch *

Ray MacSharry Ray MacSharry (born 29 April 1938) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Tánaiste from March 1982 to December 1982, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development from 1989 to 1993, Minister for the Public Servic ...

* Tom McEllistrim * Michael J. Noonan *

Michael O'Kennedy Michael O'Kennedy (21 February 1936 – 15 April 2022) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister for Labour from 1991 to 1992, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1987 to 1991, European Commissioner for Perso ...

John O'Sullivan John O'Sullivan may refer to: Sports *John O'Sullivan (cricketer) (1918–1991), New Zealand cricketer *John O'Sullivan (cyclist) (born 1933), Australian cyclist *John O'Sullivan (footballer) (born 1993), Irish footballer for Accrington Stanley *J ...

Paddy Power Paddy Power is an Irish gambling company founded in 1988. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The business is split into two divisions, UK Ireland (UKI) and International. UKI operations ...

* Michael Smith * Frank Taylor *

* Jim Tunney

Re-elected TDs

* Eugene Timmons

Outgoing TDs

* Lionel Booth (Retired) * Paddy Clohessy (Retired) * Seán Collins (Lost seat) * John A. Costello (Retired) * Edward Cotter (Retired) * James Dillon (Retired) * Nicholas Egan (Retired) * John Fanning (Retired) * Denis Larkin (Retired) *

Seán Lemass Seán Francis Lemass (born John Francis Lemass; 15 July 1899 – 11 May 1971) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1959 to 1966. He also served as Tánaiste from 1957 to 1959, 1951 to 1954 ...

(Retired) * Patrick McAuliffe (Lost seat) *

Seán MacEntee Seán Francis MacEntee ( ga, Seán Mac an tSaoi; 23 August 1889 – 9 January 1984) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Tánaiste from 1959 to 1965, Minister for Social Welfare from 1957 to 1961, Minister for Health from 1957 to ...

(Retired) *

Michael O'Higgins Michael Joseph O'Higgins (1 November 1917 – 9 March 2005) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Leader of the Seanad from 1973 to 1977. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1948 to 1951 and 1954 to 1969. He also served as a Senato ...

(Defeated) * Patrick Tierney (Retired)

Campaign

Result

Voting summary

Seats summary

Government formation

Changes in membership

First time TDs

Re-elected TDs

Outgoing TDs

See also

Notes

References

Further reading