The November 1982 Irish general election to the 24th Dáil was held on Wednesday, 24 November, three weeks after the dissolution of the 23rd Dáil on 4 November 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 ...

following a defeat of the government in a

motion of confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

. 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 24th 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 14 December 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 was appointed Taoiseach, forming the

19th government of Ireland 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics Nineteen is the eighth prime number. Number theory 19 forms a twin prime with 17, a cousin prime with 23, and a sexy prime with 13 ...

, a

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

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 second general election of 1982 took place just nine months after the election in February of the same year. It was the first time there had been three general elections within eighteen months. The general election was caused by the loss of support of the Independent

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( ; ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish language, Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The official Engli ...

(TD) Tony Gregory and the

Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...

for the

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 ...

government. This was due to the government introducing substantial budget cuts, which the left-wing TDs would not support. While economic issues dominated the campaign, the parties were weary of having to fight yet another general election.

Result

Independents include

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 ...

(7,997 votes, 1 seat).

Voting summary

Seats summary

Government formation

Fine Gael and the Labour Party formed the

, a majority coalition.

won 39.2% of the vote, the highest ever in its history. It also recorded its best election result until

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, coming within five seats of Fianna Fáil; at other times (such as

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

) Fianna Fáil had been twice as big as Fine Gael. The Labour Party had a new leader with

Dick Spring Richard Martin Spring (born 29 August 1950) is an Irish former Labour Party (Ireland), Labour Party politician who served as Tánaiste from 1982 to 1987, 1992 to November 1994, and December 1994 to 1997, Leader of the Labour Party (Ireland), L ...

. A programme for government was quickly drawn up and Garret FitzGerald of Fine Gael became Taoiseach for the second time. The poor showing for Fianna Fáil resulted in a leadership challenge to

by his opponents within the party. Haughey won the vote of confidence and remained as leader.

Dáil membership changes

The following changes took place as a result of the election: *5 outgoing TDs retired *1 vacant seat at election time *159 outgoing TDs stood for re-election (also John O'Connell, 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) **138 of those were re-elected **21 failed to be re-elected *27 successor TDs were elected **18 were elected for the first time **9 had previously been TDs *There were 6 successor female TDs, increasing the total by 6 to 14. *There were changes in 22 of the 41 constituencies contested Where more than one change took place in a constituency the concept of successor is an approximation for presentation only.

Seanad election

The Dáil election was followed in early 1983 by an election to the

17th Seanad The 17th Seanad was in office from 1983 to 1987. An election to Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament), followed the November 1982 general election to the 24th Dáil. The senators served until the close of poll for th ...

Notes

References

External links

November 1982 election: Party leaders' debate
RTÉ archives