The 1938 Irish general election to the

10th Dáil The 10th Dáil was elected at the 1938 Irish general election, 1938 general election on 17 June 1938 and first met on 30 June 1938. The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature) of Republic of Irelan ...

was held on Friday, 17 June following the dissolution of the

9th Dáil The 9th Dáil was elected at the 1937 general election on 1 July 1937 and met on 21 July 1937. The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature) of the Irish Free State, are known as TDs. Seanad Éirea ...

on 27 May 1938 by the Presidential Commission on the request of

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

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 an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...

. It was a

snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...

, less than a year after the previous election, the proximate cause being the government's loss of an opposition

motion In physics, motion is when an object changes its position with respect to a reference point in a given time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed, and frame of reference to an o ...

recommending use of

arbitration Arbitration is a formal method of dispute resolution involving a third party neutral who makes a binding decision. The third party neutral (the 'arbitrator', 'arbiter' or 'arbitral tribunal') renders the decision in the form of an 'arbitrati ...

to resolve

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

labour disputes.; The general election took place in 34 parliamentary constituencies throughout Ireland for 138 seats in

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...

. It was the first election held after the coming into force of the

Constitution of Ireland The Constitution of Ireland (, ) is the constitution, fundamental law of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people. It guarantees certain fundamental rights, along with a popularly elected non-executi ...

on 29 December 1937.

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...

won the first overall majority in the history of the State. The 10th Dáil met at

Leinster House Leinster House () is the seat of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Originally, it was the ducal palace of the Duke of Leinster, Dukes of Leinster. Since 1922, it has been a complex of buildings which houses Oirea ...

on 30 June to nominate the Taoiseach for appointment 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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Douglas Hyde Douglas Ross Hyde (; 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 to June 1945. He was a l ...

and to approve the appointment of a new

government of Ireland The Government of Ireland () is the executive (government), executive authority of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, headed by the , the head of government. The government – also known as the cabinet (government), cabinet – is composed of Mini ...

on the nomination of the Taoiseach. Outgoing Taoiseach Éamon de Valera was re-appointed leading a single-party

government.

Result

Voting summary

Seats summary

Government formation

Fianna Fáil formed a majority government, the 2nd government of Ireland.

Changes in membership

First time TDs

* Erskine H. Childers * Daniel Hogan * James Hughes *

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 Éirea ...

* Henry McDevitt * Thomas Mullen * Peter O'Loghlen *

Mícheál Ó Móráin Mícheál Ó Móráin (24 December 1911 – 6 May 1983) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister for Justice (Ireland), Minister for Justice from 1968 to 1970, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth ...

Re-elected TDs

* William Broderick * Eamonn Cooney *

Richard Mulcahy Richard James Mulcahy (10 May 1886 – 16 December 1971) was an Irish Fine Gael politician and army general who served as Minister for Education from 1948 to 1951 and 1954 to 1957, Minister for the Gaeltacht from June 1956 to October 1956, L ...

James Reidy James Reidy (1890 – 7 December 1963) was an Irish politician. He was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Cumann na nGaedheal Teachta Dála (TD) for the Limerick constituency at the 1932 general election. He was re-elected at the 1933 general elec ...

Outgoing TDs

Archie Heron Archibald Heron (29 August 1896 – 10 May 1971) was an Irish Labour Party politician and trade unionist. He was born in Portadown, County Armagh, to a presbyterian family, one of seven children of Samuel Heron, a physician and surgeon, and hi ...

(Lost seat) * Gerrard McGowan (Retired) * Edward Moane (Lost seat) * Sydney Minch (Lost seat) * Daniel O'Leary (Lost seat)

Seanad election

The election was followed by an election to the

3rd Seanad The 3rd Seanad was in office from 1938 to 1943. An election to Seanad Éireann, the Senate of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament), followed the 1938 general election to the 10th Dáil. The senators served until the close of poll for the 4th Sean ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irish General Election, 1938 General election, 1938

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

10th Dáil June 1938 in Europe

General election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...