Irish general election, 1992
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The Irish general election of 1992 was held on Wednesday, November 25, 1992, almost three weeks after the dissolution of the Dáil on November 5. However, after difficulties in forming a government the newly elected 166 members of the 27th Dáil did not assemble at Leinster House until January 4, 1993. A new Taoiseach and government were not appointed until January 12.
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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[edit] Campaign
The general election of 1992 was precipitated by the collapse of the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition government. Allegations of dishonesty at the Beef Tribunal forced Desmond O'Malley and his party to part ways with Albert Reynolds's Fianna Fáil. Both Albert Reynolds and John Bruton of Fine Gael were fighting their first general election as leader of their respective parties. For Reynolds it would be his only election as leader. The campaign went very poorly for Fianna Fáil with Reynolds's support dropping by 20%.
Many political pundits had predicted that Fianna Fáil wouldn't be re-elected and that a "Rainbow Coalition" involving Fine Gael, Labour and possibly the Democratic Left. John Bruton, the leader of Fine Gael, had problems of his own. Opinion polls showed that if a "Rainbow Coalition" came to power, Dick Spring of the Labour Party was seen as a better potential Taoiseach than Bruton. The possibility of a rotating Taoiseach was also hinted at in the media.
The big winner of the campaign was Dick Spring and the Labour Party. They distanced themselves completely from Fine Gael and fought an independent line. During the campaign Spring made very little comment about what the party would do after the election, however, he did say that if Labour was part of a coalition he would have to be granted a turn as Taoiseach.
The election also saw Moosajee Bhamjee (Labour) become the first Muslim TD.
[edit] Result
| Party | Party Leader | Seats | First-Preference Votes (in thousands) | |||||||||||||
| 1989 | at dissolution | 1992 | Change | 1989 | 1992 | Change | ||||||||||
| # | % of Dáil | # | % of Dáil | # | % of Dáil | # | % of Dáil | # | % | # | % | % | ||||
| Fianna Fáil | Albert Reynolds | 77 | 46.6 | N/A | N/A | 68 | 41.2 | -9 | -5.4 | 731.4 | 44.1 | 674.6 | 39.1 | -5.0 | ||
| Fine Gael | John Bruton | 55 | 33.3 | N/A | N/A | 45 | 27.3 | -10 | -6.0 | 485.3 | 29.3 | 422.1 | 24.5 | -4.8 | ||
| Labour Party | Dick Spring | 15 | 9.1 | N/A | N/A | 33 | 20.0 | +18 | +10.9 | 156.9 | 9.5 | 333.0 | 19.3 | +9.9 | ||
| Progressive Democrats | Desmond O'Malley | 6 | 3.6 | N/A | N/A | 10 | 6.1 | +4 | +2.4 | 91.0 | 5.5 | 80.7 | 4.7 | -0.8 | ||
| Democratic Left | Proinsias De Rossa | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3.6 | 4 | 2.4 | -2 | -1.2 | N/A | N/A | 47.9 | 2.8 | N/A | ||
| Green Party | none | 1 | 0.6 | 1 | 0.6 | 1 | 0.6 | +0 | +0 | 24.8 | 1.5 | 24.1 | 1.4 | -0.1 | ||
| Workers Party | Tomás Mac Giolla | 7 | 4.2 | 1 | 0.6 | 0 | 0 | -1 | -0.6 | 82.2 | 4.9 | 11.5 | 0.6 | -4.3 | ||
| Other Parties | 1 | 0.6 | 1 | 0.6 | 0 | 0 | -1 | -0.6 | 30.1 | 1.8 | 41.8 | 2.4 | +0.6 | |||
| Independents | 3 | 1.8 | N/A | N/A | 4 | 2.4 | +1 | +1.3 | 54.7 | 3.3 | 47.9 | 2.8 | +0.5 | |||
| Ceann Comhairle (Speaker) | 1 | 0.6 | 1 | 0.6 | 1 | 0.6 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Vacant | 0 | 0.0 | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 166 | 100.0 | 166 | 100.0 | 166 | 100.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1656.4 | 100.0 | 1683.6 | 100.0 | 0.0 | |||
When the votes were counted the picture was clear. Fianna Fáil had its worst performance since 1927, winning less than 40% of the vote. Fine Gael, in spite of predictions of success, actually lost 10 seats. The Labour Party recorded its best ever result and effectively held the balance of power. As mathematically a "Rainbow Coalition" was out of the question, Spring had to enter into coalition with Fianna Fáil, or force another election. The coalition deal proved very unpopular with many of Labour’s supporters, due to the fact that Dick Spring had campaigned heavily against Fianna Fáil and particularly Albert Reynolds. As a result of the coalition, Albert Reynolds was elected Taoiseach with over 100 votes, the biggest majority by any Taoiseach in Irish history.
Following a number of scandals in 1994, particularly over the beef industry, Labour left the coalition and, after negotiations, formed the "Rainbow Coalition" with Fine Gael and Democratic Left on December 15, 1994. This was the first time in Irish political history that a party had left a governing coalition and gone into government with opposition parties without first holding an election.
[edit] Dáil membership changes
The following changes took place as a result of the election:
- 11 outgoing TDs retired.
- 155 TDs stood for re-election.
- 126 of those were re-elected.
- 29 failed to be re-elected.
- 40 successor TDs were elected
- 33 were elected for the first time.
- 7 had previously been TDs.
- There were 10 successor female TDs, increasing the total number by 7.
Outgoing TDs are listed in the constituency they contested in the election. For some, such as John Stafford, this differs from the constituency they represented in the outgoing Dáil. Where more than one change took place in a constituency the concept of successor is an approximation for presentation only.
| Constituency | Departing TD | Change | Successor TD | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cavan-Monaghan | John P. Wilson (FF) | Retired | Brendan Smith (FF) | |
| William Cotter (FG) | Lost seat | Seymour Crawford (FG) | ||
| Clare | Brendan Daly (FF) | Lost seat | Tony Killeen (FF) | |
| Madeleine Taylor-Quinn (FG) | Lost seat | Moosajee Bhamjee (LAB) | ||
| Cork East | Joe Sherlock (WP) | Lost seat | John Mulvihill (LAB) | |
| Cork North West | Laurence Kelly (FF) | Lost seat | Donal Moynihan (FF) | Moynihan:Former TD |
| Cork South Central | John Dennehy (FF) | Lost seat | Batt O'Keeffe (FF) | O'Keeffe: Former TD |
| Pearse Wyse (PD) | Retired | Pat Cox (PD) | ||
| Dublin Central | Dermot Fitzpatrick (FF) | Lost seat | Joe Costello (LAB) | |
| Dublin North | Trevor Sargent (GP) | New seat | ||
| Dublin North Central | Vincent Brady (FF) | Retired | Derek McDowell (LAB) | |
| Charles Haughey (FF) | Retired | Seán Haughey (FF) | ||
| Pat Lee (FG) | Lost seat | Represented Dublin Central but due to boundary changes ran in Dublin North Central | ||
| John Stafford (FF) | Lost seat | Represented Dublin Central but due to boundary changes ran in Dublin North Central | ||
| Dublin North East | Michael Joe Cosgrave (FG) | Lost seat | Seán Kenny (LAB) | |
| Pat McCartan (DL) | Lost seat | Tommy Broughan (LAB) | ||
| Dublin North West | Michael Barrett (FF) | Retired | Noel Ahern (FF) | |
| Jim Tunney (FF) | Lost seat | Róisín Shortall (LAB) | ||
| Dublin South | Nuala Fennell (FG) | Retired | Eithne Fitzgerald (LAB) | |
| Roger Garland (GP) | Lost seat | Liz O'Donnell (PD) | ||
| Dublin South Central | Eric Byrne (DL) | Lost seat | Pat Upton (LAB) | |
| Fergus O'Brien (FG) | Retired | Seats reduced from 5 to 4 | ||
| Dublin South East | Garret FitzGerald (FG) | Retired | Frances Fitzgerald (FG) | |
| Joe Doyle (FG) | Lost seat | Michael McDowell (PD) | McDowell: Former TD | |
| Gerard Brady (FF) | Lost seat | Eoin Ryan (FF) | ||
| Dublin South West | Eamonn Walsh (LAB) | New seat | ||
| Dublin West | Tomás Mac Giolla (WP) | Lost seat | Joan Burton (LAB) | |
| Dún Laoghaire | Monica Barnes (FG) | Lost seat | Helen Keogh (PD) | |
| Brian Hillery (FF) | Lost seat | Niamh Bhreathnach (LAB) | Became a minister on first day | |
| Galway West | Frank Fahey (FF) | Lost seat | Éamon Ó Cuív (FF) | |
| Kerry North | Tom McEllistrim, Jnr (FF) | Lost seat | Denis Foley (FF) | Foley: Former TD |
| Kerry South | Michael Moynihan (LAB) | Retired | Breeda Moynihan Cronin (LAB) | |
| Laois-Offaly | Tom Enright (FG) | Lost seat | Pat Gallagher (LAB) | |
| Longford-Roscommon | Louis Belton (FG) | Lost seat | Represented Longford-Westmeath but due to constituency changes was one of 5 outgoing TDs standing in this new 4-seater constituency | |
| Terry Leyden (FF) | Lost seat | Seán Doherty (FF) | Doherty:Former TD | |
| Mayo East | Seán Calleary (FF) | Retired | Tom Moffatt (FF) | |
| Mayo West | Martin O'Toole (FF) | Retired | Séamus Hughes (FF) | |
| Meath | John Farrelly (FG) | Lost seat | Brian Fitzgerald (LAB) | |
| Sligo-Leitrim | Gerry Reynolds (FG) | Lost seat | Declan Bree (LAB) | |
| Westmeath | Willie Penrose (LAB) | Due to boundary changes, only 2 outgoing TDs from Longford-Westmeath moved to this 3 seat constituency | ||
| Wexford | Séamus Cullimore (FF) | Lost seat | Hugh Byrne (FF) | Byrne: Former TD |
| Michael D'Arcy (FG) | Lost seat | Avril Doyle (FG) | Doyle: Former TD | |
| Wicklow | Dick Roche (FF) | Lost seat | Johnny Fox (Ind.) | |
| Liz McManus (DL) | New seat |
[edit] Subsequent By-elections
The following TDs were elected for the first time in subsequent by-elections:
Two other by-elections returned previous TDs:
[edit] See also
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