The Irish general election of November 1982 was held on 24 November 1982, three weeks after the dissolution of the Dáil on 4 November. The newly elected 166 members of the 24th Dáil assembled at Leinster House on 14 December when a new Taoiseach and government were appointed.

The general election took place in 41 parliamentary constituencies throughout Ireland for 166 seats in the lower house of parliament, Dáil Éireann.

Contents 1 Campaign 2 Result 3 First time TDs 4 By-elections 5 Re-elected TDs 6 Outgoing TDs 7 See also 8 References

[edit] Campaign

The second general election of 1982 took place just nine months after the first one in February of the same year. While it is not the shortest Dáil, 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, which the left-wing Teachta Dála (TDs) could not support. While economic issues dominated the campaign, the parties were weary in having to fight yet another general election.

[edit] Result

24th Irish general election – 24 November 1982^[1][2]

Party		Leader	Seats	±	% of seats	First Pref votes	% FPv	±%
	Fianna Fáil	Charles Haughey	75	–6	45.2		45.2	–2.1
	Fine Gael	Garret FitzGerald	70	+7	42.2		39.2	+1.9
	Labour Party	Dick Spring	16	+1	9.6		9.4	+0.3
	Workers' Party	Tomás Mac Giolla	2	–1	1.2		3.3	+1.1
	Independent	N/A	2	–1	1.2		2.9	–0.2
	Ceann Comhairle	N/A	1	N/A	0.6	N/A	N/A	N/A
Total			166	0	100		100	—

• 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.

[edit] First time TDs

A total of 18 TDs were elected for the first time:

[edit] By-elections

• Cathal Coughlan
• Brian Cowen

[edit] Re-elected TDs

• Fergus O'Brien
• Madeleine Taylor-Quinn

[edit] Outgoing TDs

• Lorcan Allen (Lost seat)
• Gerry Brady (Lost seat)
• Seán Browne (Retired)
• Jim Gibbons (Lost seat)
• Joe Sherlock (Lost seat)

[edit] See also

• Members of the 24th Dáil
• Government of the 24th Dáil

[edit] References

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