The 1981 Irish general election to the

22nd Dáil The 22nd Dáil was elected at the 1981 Irish general election, 1981 general election on 11 June 1981 and met on 30 June 1981. The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature), of Republic of Ireland, I ...

was held on Thursday, 11 June, following the dissolution of the 21st Dáil on 21 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 ...

Patrick Hillery Patrick John Hillery (; 2 May 1923 – 12 April 2008) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as the sixth president of Ireland from December 1976 to December 1990. He also served as vice-president of the European Commission and Europea ...

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 ...

Charles Haughey Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who led four governments as Taoiseach: December 1979 to June 1981, March to December 1982, March 1987 to June 1989, and June 1989 to February 1992 ...

. The general election took place in 41

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 166 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 ...

. The number of seats in the Dáil was increased by 18 from 148 under the

Electoral (Amendment) Act 1980 The Electoral (Amendment) Act 1980 (No. 17) was a law of Ireland which revised Dáil constituencies. It took effect on the dissolution of the 21st Dáil on 21 May 1981 and a general election for the 22nd Dáil on the revised constituencies took ...

. The 22nd 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 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 ...

Garret FitzGerald Garret Desmond FitzGerald (9 February 192619 May 2011) was an Irish Fine Gael politician, economist, and barrister who served twice as Taoiseach, serving from 1981 to 1982 and 1982 to 1987. He served as Leader of Fine Gael from 1977 to 1987 an ...

was appointed Taoiseach, forming the

17th government of Ireland 17 (seventeen) is the natural number following 16 and preceding 18. It is a prime number. 17 was described at MIT as "the least random number", according to the Jargon File. This is supposedly because, in a study where respondents were asked to ...

, a minority coalition government 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 ...

and the Labour Party.

Campaign

The general election of 1981 was the first one of five during the 1980s. The election also saw three new leaders of the three main parties fight their first general election.

had become Taoiseach and leader of

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 ...

at the end of 1979,

was the new leader of

and

Frank Cluskey Frank Cluskey (8 April 1930 – 7 May 1989) was an Irish Labour Party politician who served as Minister for Trade, Commerce and Tourism from 1982 to 1983, Leader of the Labour Party from 1977 to 1981 and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minist ...

was leading the Labour Party. Haughey and Fianna Fáil seemed extremely popular with the electorate in early 1981. He was expected to call the election at the time of the Fianna Fáil

ardfheis or ( , ; 'high assembly'; plural ) is the name used by many Irish political parties for their annual party conference. Usage Among the parties who use the term or are: * * * * Irish Republican Socialist Party * * Green Party * Republican ...

on 14 February, but the

Stardust fire The Stardust fire was a fatal fire which took place at the Stardust nightclub in Artane, Dublin, Ireland, in the early hours of 14 February (Valentine's Day) 1981. More than 800 people were attending a disco there, of whom 48 died and 214 were ...

caused the ardfheis to be postponed, and the Republican hunger strike in the Maze Prison began in March. By the dissolution in May, much of the earlier optimism in the party had filtered out. The

Anti H-Block Anti H-Block was the political label used in 1981 by supporters of the Irish republican hunger strike who were standing for election in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. "H-Block" was a metonym for the Maze Prison, within who ...

movement fielded

abstentionist Abstentionism is the political practice of standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abst ...

candidates in solidarity with the hunger strikers, undermining the Republican credentials of Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fáil's manifesto promised more spending programmes and Fine Gael put forward a series of tax-cutting plans.

Result

Independents include

(42,803 votes, 2 seats) and

Independent Fianna Fáil Independent Fianna Fáil (IFF), sometimes called the Independent Fianna Fáil Republican Party, was a splinter republican party in Republic of Ireland, Ireland created by Neil Blaney after his expulsion from Fianna Fáil following the Irish Arms ...

(13,546 votes, 1 seat).

Voting summary

Seats summary

Government formation

Fianna Fáil lost seats as a result of sympathy to the

candidates and the attractive tax proposals of Fine Gael. It was the worst performance for Fianna Fáil in twenty years. Meanwhile, Labour Party leader

lost his seat, necessitating a leadership change with Michael O'Leary succeeding Cluskey. A Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition government came to power.

and the Labour Party formed the 17th Government of Ireland, a minority coalition government, with Garret FitzGerald becoming Taoiseach.

Dáil membership changes

The following changes took place at this election: *20 outgoing TDs retired *18 additional seats added to the Dáil *127 outgoing TDs stood for re-election (also

Pádraig Faulkner Pádraig Faulkner (12 March 1918 – 1 June 2012) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann from 1980 to 1981, Minister for Defence 1979 to 1980, Minister for Posts and Telegraphs and Minister for T ...

, the outgoing

Ceann Comhairle The (; "Head of heCouncil"; plural usually ) is the chairperson (or speaker) of , the lower house of the (parliament) of Ireland. The person who holds the position is elected by members of the from among their number in the first session ...

who was automatically returned) **109 of those were re-elected **18 failed to be re-elected *56 successor TDs were elected **50 were elected for the first time **6 had previously been TDs *There were 7 successor female TDs, replacing 3 outgoing, increasing the total by 4 to 11. Where more than one change took place in a constituency the concept of successor is an approximation for presentation only. Where a number of related constituency changes took place in an area, such as Cork, the outgoing constituency for retiring TDs and the allocation of new seats are approximations for presentation only. Outgoing TDs re-elected in a new constituency, with no related changes, are not recorded as a change

Seanad election

The Dáil election was followed by an election to the

15th Seanad The 15th Seanad was in office from 1981 to 1982. An election to Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament), followed the 1981 general election to the 22nd Dáil. The senators served until the close of poll for the 16th Se ...