The 1944 Irish general election to 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. It sat with the 5th ...

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: 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 ...

on the advice 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 ...

. The general election took place in 34 parliamentary constituencies 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 ...

, 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 and the two houses of the Oireachtas (): a house ...

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 an overall majority. The outgoing

11th Dáil The 11th Dáil was elected at the 1943 general election on 23 June 1943 and met on 1 July 1943. The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature) of Ireland, are known as TDs. It sat with the 4th Seana ...

was dissolved on 7 June. The 12th 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 9 June to nominate the Taoiseach for appointment by the president 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 Fianna Fáil government.

Calling the election

The outgoing Fianna Fáil government, formed on 1 July 1943, was a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

. On 9 July 1944, it suffered 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

sought 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 ...

, just one year after the previous election, in hopes of getting an overall majority. It was the second election called under the General Elections (Emergency Provisions) Act 1943. The Act, intended to increase national security by minimising the interval during which no Dáil is in existence, subvented the requirement under

the Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

for the president to dissolve the Dáil before a general election took place, and was permitted under the

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...

in effect during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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 deba ...

was held in which the opposition TDs condemned the decision to hold an election in wartime as unnecessary and reckless. The

was dissolved on 7 June 1944.

Campaign

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 ( ; ; ) is a centre-right, liberal-conservative, 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 Éireann. The party had a member ...

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. National Labour had split from Labour in January 1944. Due to the fractured nature of the opposition, Éamon de Valera's tactic of calling a snap general election succeeded, with Fianna Fáil increasing its share of seats, as it had in the previous snap elections of

1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independen ...

and

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 ...

Result

Voting summary

Seats summary

Government formation

Fianna Fáil formed the

4th government of Ireland Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...

, a majority government.

Changes in membership

First-time TDs

* Thomas Brennan * Harry Colley *

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 shopkee ...

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 Republi ...

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

Re-elected TDs

John A. Costello John Aloysius Costello (20 June 1891 – 5 January 1976) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 1948 to 1951 and from 1954 to 1957. He was leader of the opposition from 1951 to 1954 and from 1957 to 1959 and attorney gene ...

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 ...

* Peter O'Loghlen *

Eamonn O'Neill Eamonn O'Neill (1882 – 3 November 1954) was an Irish businessman, Cumann na nGaedheal and later Fine Gael politician. Born in Kinsale in 1882, O'Neill was the son of James O'Neill, a Kinsale merchant and member of the first Cork County Counc ...

* Laurence Walsh * Richard Walsh (regained seat)

Outgoing TDs

Ernest Benson Ernest Edmondson Benson (5 October 1898 – 15 March 1975) was an Irish Fine Gael politician and businessman. He was born 5 October 1898 in Dublin, the second child of Robert Benson, a company director, and Bessie Benson (née Hulme); the famil ...

* Sir John Esmonde, Bt *

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

Timothy Linehan Timothy Linehan (4 August 1905 – date of death unknown) was an Irish Fine Gael politician. A solicitor, he was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork North constituency at the 1937 general election. He was re-el ...

Richard Stapleton Richard Stapleton (died 31 July 1949) was an Irish Labour Party politician. He was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Labour Party Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( ; ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish language, Irish, TD ...

Retiring TDs

* Jeremiah Ryan *

W. T. Cosgrave William Thomas Cosgrave (5 June 1880 – 16 November 1965) was an Irish politician who served as the President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1932, Leader of the Opposition from 1932 to 1944, Leader of Fine Gael ...

Seanad election

The election was followed by an election to the

5th Seanad The 5th Seanad was in office from 1944 to 1948. An election to Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament), followed the 1944 general election to the 12th Dáil. The senators served until the close of poll for the 6th Seana ...

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 France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

12th Dáil May 1944 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 ...