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Irish general election, November 1982
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The Irish general election of November 1982 was held on November 24, 1982, three weeks after the dissolution of the Dáil on November 4. The newly elected 166 members of the 24th Dáil assembled at Leinster House on December 14 when a new Taoiseach and government were appointed.
The general election took place in 41 parliamentary constituencies throughout the Republic of Ireland for 166 seats in the lower house of parliament, Dáil Éireann.
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The second general election of 1982 took place just nine months after the first one in February of that year. While it is not the shortest Dáil in Irish history, it is unusual because never before had there been three general elections in eighteen months.
The general election was caused by the loss of support of Independents and the Workers Party for the Fianna Fáil government. This was due to the government's insistence on introducing substantial budget cuts, budget cuts which the left-wing TDs could not stomach. While economic issues dominated the campaign the parties were weary in having to fight yet another general election.
| 24th Irish General Election – November 24, 1982 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Leader | # of Seats |
Gains/ Losses |
% of Dáil |
% of Votes |
|
| Fianna Fáil | Charles Haughey | 75 | -6 | 45.2 | 45.2 | |
| Fine Gael | Garret FitzGerald | 70 | +7 | 42.2 | 39.2 | |
| Labour Party | Dick Spring | 16 | +1 | 9.6 | 9.4 | |
| Workers Party | Tomás Mac Giolla | 2 | -1 | 1.2 | 3.3 | |
| Others | 2 | -1 | 1.2 | 2.9 | ||
| Ceann Comhairle (Speaker) | 1 | - | 0.6 | - | ||
| Totals | 166 | 0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | ||
| Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition government formed. | ||||||
After the votes were counted the result was conclusive. Fine Gael recorded its biggest ever election victory, coming within five seats of Fianna Fáil; at other times Fianna Fáil had been twice as big as Fine Gael. The Labour Party had a new leader with Dick Spring. 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 Charles Haughey by his opponents within the party. Haughey won the vote of confidence and remained as leader.
A total of 18 TDs were elected for the first time:
- Mary O'Rourke
- Monica Barnes
- Michael Bell
- John Browne
- Fintan Coogan
- Richard Dowling
- Avril Doyle
- Joe Doyle
- Séamus Kirk
- Tomás Mac Giolla
- Brendan McGahon
- Frank McLoughlin
- Donal Moynihan
- M.J. Nolan
- Ned O'Keeffe
- Donal Ormonde
- Frank Prendergast
- Dan Wallace
The following were elected for the first time in subsequent by-elections:
The following were elected that had formerly been a TD
- Joe Sherlock (Lost seat)
- Gerry Brady (Kildare) (Lost seat)
- Lorcan Allen (Lost seat)
- Jim Gibbons (Lost seat)
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