The 1969 Irish general election to the

19th Dáil The 19th Dáil was elected at the 1969 Irish general election, 1969 general election on 18 June 1969 and met on 2 July 1969. The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature) of Republic of Ireland, Ire ...

was held on Wednesday, 18 June, following the dissolution of the 18th Dáil 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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

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 ...

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 ...

Jack Lynch John Mary Lynch (15 August 1917 – 20 October 1999) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1966 to 1973 and 1977 to 1979. He was Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1966 to 1979, Leader of the Opposition from 1973 to 1977, ...

. The general election took place in 42

Dáil constituencies There are 43 multi-member electoral districts, known as Dáil constituencies, to elect 174 Teachta Dála, TDs to Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas, Republic of Ireland, Ireland's parliament, on the system of propor ...

throughout Ireland for 144 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 ...

, with boundary changes under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1969. The governing

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 its fourth successive election. The 19th 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 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 () 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 ...

. Lynch was re-appointed Taoiseach, forming the

13th government of Ireland In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the Musical note, note thirteen scale degrees from the root (chord), root of a chord (music), chord and also the interval (music), interval between the root and the thirteenth. The thirteenth is m ...

, a single-party majority

government.

Campaign

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

had become

in 1966 and was attempting to win his first election.

Liam Cosgrave Liam Cosgrave (13 April 1920 – 4 October 2017) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 1973 to 1977, Leader of Fine Gael from 1965 to 1977, Leader of the Opposition from 1965 to 1973, Minister for External Affairs fro ...

had taken charge of

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 ...

in 1965 and 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 office 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,

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 and

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

. 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 () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

. The tactic worked successfully.

Result

; Notes * Independents include Gluaiseacht Chearta Sibhialta na Gaeltachta (1,522 votes). 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 election for thirty-three years at which a government was returned to office—until the Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government was returned with an increased majority in the 2002 general election.

Voting summary

Seats summary

Government formation

formed the

, 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 Seanad Éireann, senator. Brosnan was a native of Dingle, County ...

John Bruton John Gerard Bruton (18 May 1947 – 6 February 2024) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 1994 to 1997 and Leader of Fine Gael from 1990 to 2001. He held cabinet positions between 1981‍ and 1987, including twice ...

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

* Noel Davern *

Barry Desmond Barry Desmond (born 15 May 1935) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who was Minister for Health from 1982 to 1987 and Minister for Social Welfare from 1982 to 1986. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1969 to 1989, a Minister of St ...

* Tom Enright * Martin Finn * Garret FitzGerald * Paddy Forde * Billy Fox * Michael Herbert * Thomas Hussey * Liam Kavanagh * Justin Keating * Bill Loughnane * Gerard Lynch * Ray MacSharry * 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 in a range of cabinet positions, including Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Finan ...

* John O'Sullivan *

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. Business operations are led from its headquarters in Dublin, alongside a satellite office ...

* Michael Smith * Frank Taylor * David Thornley * Jim Tunney

Re-elected TDs

* Eugene Timmons

Retiring TDs

* Lionel Booth * Paddy Clohessy * John A. Costello * Edward Cotter * James Dillon * Nicholas Egan * John Fanning *

Denis Larkin Denis Larkin (8 June 1908 – 2 July 1987) was an Irish Labour Party (Ireland), Labour Party politician and trade union official. Early life He was born 8 June 1908 in Rostrevor, County Down, the second of four sons of the Irish trade unionist ...

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 ...

Seán MacEntee Seán Francis MacEntee (; 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 1965, Minister for Lo ...

* Patrick Tierney

Defeated TDs

* Seán Collins * Patrick McAuliffe * Michael O'Higgins

Seanad election

The Dáil election was followed by an election to the 12th Seanad.