1977 Irish general election

The 1977 Irish general election to the 21st Dáil was held on Thursday, 16 June, following the dissolution of the 20th Dáil on 25 May by President Patrick Hillery on the request of Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave. The general election took place in 42 Dáil constituencies throughout Ireland for 148 seats in Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas, an increase of four seats with a significant revision of constituencies under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1974. The election is regarded as a pivotal point in twentieth-century Irish politics. Jack Lynch led Fianna Fáil to a landslide election win, clearly defeating the outgoing Fine Gael–Labour government.

1977 Irish general election

← 1973 16 June 1977 1981 →
← outgoing members TDs elected →
148 seats in Dáil Éireann^[a] 75 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	76.3% 0.3pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Jack Lynch Liam Cosgrave Brendan Corish Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Labour Last election 69 seats, 46.2% 54 seats, 35.1% 19 seats, 13.7% Seats before 65 55 20 Seats won 84 43 17^[a] Seat change 19 12 3 Percentage 50.6% 30.5% 11.6% Swing 4.4% 4.6% 2.1%
Percentage of seats gained by each of the three major parties, and number of seats gained by smaller parties and independents.
Taoiseach before election Liam Cosgrave Fine Gael Taoiseach after election Jack Lynch Fianna Fáil

The 21st Dáil met at Leinster House on 5 July to nominate the Taoiseach for appointment by the president and to approve the appointment of a new government of Ireland. Jack Lynch was appointed Taoiseach, forming the 15th Government of Ireland, a single-party majority Fianna Fáil government. It was the last election to result in a single-party majority government.

Campaign

In spite of having faced some controversial issues during its term of office, the ruling Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition looked set to defy political history by winning an unprecedented second term. This belief was further augmented following the so-called "Tullymander" of parliamentary constituencies. This refers to the Minister for Local Government James Tully, and his scheme of redrawing constituencies across the country to maximise the vote for the coalition partners. For example, in Dublin there were thirteen three-seat constituencies. It was hoped that the coalition partners would win two of the seats, leaving Fianna Fáil with only one seat. A similar tactic was used in rural areas where the party was at its strongest.

As a result of this, Fianna Fáil and its leader Jack Lynch believed that they could not win the general election. The party drew up a manifesto which offered the electorate a string of financial and economic "sweeteners", encouraging them to vote for Fianna Fáil. Some of the promises that were offered included the abolition of rates on houses, the abolition of car tax and the promise of reducing unemployment to under 100,000. Lynch agreed to the manifesto because he believed that the party needed something dramatic if it were to win the election.

Both The Irish Times and The Irish Press, which was then edited by Tim Pat Coogan, were extremely critical of the government's curtailment of freedom of speech and in particular of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs Conor Cruise O'Brien, who used these restrictions against the PIRA.

The Fianna Fáil campaign was based on the American model. Inspired by director of elections Séamus Brennan, Lynch travelled the length and breadth of the country, music blaring, accompanied by his followers. His popularity was at its highest, and it soon became clear he might win the election. Lynch's popularity was a big electoral asset. The party slogan "Bring Back Jack" even played on Lynch's huge appeal. But the monetary sweeteners were Fianna Fáil's biggest asset.

In contrast to Fianna Fáil, the government parties of Fine Gael and the Labour Party fought the general election on their record in government. The redrawing of the constituency boundaries also gave them hope for success, however they offered little to the electorate except for the policies they had been pursuing for the previous four years.

While towards the end of the campaign Fianna Fáil were expected to win the general election, nobody predicted the scale of that victory. An unprecedented nine-seat majority in Dáil Éireann for Fianna Fáil saw the National Coalition swept from power in what was at the time the biggest political hurricane in Irish history. Only Éamon de Valera had ever done better, but only once out of 13 elections. Following the election, the leaders of Fine Gael and the Labour Party, Liam Cosgrave and Brendan Corish resigned as leaders of their respective parties, the first occasion in which a defeated Taoiseach or Tánaiste had done so.

"Tullymandering" and the unprecedented sweeteners were the cause for the scale of the coalition's defeat. The new government established an independent commission to revise constituency boundaries.

Result

Election to the 21st Dáil – 16 June 1977^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]
Party		Leader	Seats	±	% of seats	First pref. votes	% FPv	±%
	Fianna Fáil	Jack Lynch	84	+15	56.8	811,615	50.6	+4.4
	Fine Gael	Liam Cosgrave	43	–11	29.0	488,767	30.5	–4.6
	Labour	Brendan Corish	17^[a]	–2	11.5	186,410	11.6	–2.1
	Sinn Féin – The Workers' Party	Tomás Mac Giolla	0	–	0	27,209	1.7	+0.6
	Irish Republican Socialist	Seamus Costello	0	New	0	955	0.1	–
	Communist Party	Michael O'Riordan	0	–	0	544	0.0	–
	Independent	N/A	4	+2	2.7	87,527	5.5	+2.6
Spoilt votes						13,743	—	—
Total			148^[a]	+4	100	1,616,770	100	—
Electorate/Turnout						2,118,606	76.3%	—

Independents include Independent Fianna Fáil (13,824 votes, 1 seat) and the Community group in Dublin (9,427 votes).

Voting summary

First preference vote Fianna Fáil   50.63% Fine Gael   30.49% Labour   11.63% Sinn Féin (Workers' Party)   1.70% Others   0.09% Independent   5.46%

Seats summary

Dáil seats Fianna Fáil   56.76% Fine Gael   29.05% Labour   11.49% Independent   2.70%

Government formation

Fianna Fáil formed a majority government, the 15th Government of Ireland led by Jack Lynch as Taoiseach. In December 1979, Charles Haughey succeeded Lynch as Taoiseach, forming the 16th Government of Ireland.

Membership changes

First time TDs

42 TDs were elected for the first time:

• Bertie Ahern
• Kit Ahern
• Niall Andrews
• Liam Aylward
• John Boland
• Gerard Brady
• Vincent Brady
• Barry Cogan
• Hugh Conaghan
• Michael Joe Cosgrave
• Michael D'Arcy
• Síle de Valera
• Austin Deasy
• Seán Doherty
• Eddie Filgate
• Jim Fitzsimons
• Pádraig Flynn
• Joe Fox
• John Horgan
• Michael Keating
• Seán Keegan
• Patrick Kerrigan
• Timothy Killeen
• Mark Killilea Jnr
• Liam Lawlor
• Eileen Lemass
• Tom Leonard
• Terry Leyden
• Michael Lipper
• John Mannion Jnr
• Charlie McCreevy
• Jim Mitchell
• P. J. Morley
• William O'Brien
• Martin O'Donoghue
• Rory O'Hanlon
• Jim O'Keeffe
• Paddy O'Toole
• Ruairi Quinn
• Albert Reynolds
• Joe Walsh
• Michael Woods

Outgoing TDs

• Liam Burke (Lost seat)
• Ruairí Brugha (Lost seat)
• Justin Keating (Lost seat)
• Conor Cruise O'Brien (Lost seat)
• Seán Flanagan (Lost seat)
• Richard Gogan (Lost seat)
• Gus Healy (Retired)
• Brigid Hogan-O'Higgins (Lost seat)
• Eugene Timmons (Lost seat)

See also

• Members of the 14th Seanad
• Gerrymandering in Ireland

Notes

1. Including Seán Treacy (Lab), returned automatically for Tipperary South as outgoing Ceann Comhairle, under Art. 16.6 of the Constitution and the Electoral Act 1963, as adapted by the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1974.^[1][2][3]

References

1. Electoral Act 1963, s. 14: Re-election of outgoing Ceann Comhairle (No. 19 of 1963, s. 14). Signed on 12 July 1963. Act of the Oireachtas. Irish Statute Book.
2. Electoral (Amendment) Act 1974, s. 5: Re-election of outgoing Ceann Comhairle (No. 7 of 1974, s. 5). Signed on 7 May 1974. Act of the Oireachtas. Irish Statute Book.
3. "21st Dáil 1977: Tipperary South". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
4. "Election results and transfer of votes in general election (June, 1977) for twenty-first Dáil and bye-elections to twentieth Dáil (1973–1977)" (PDF). Houses of the Oireachtas. Dublin Stationery Office. February 1978. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
5. "21st Dáil 1977 General Election". ElectionsIreland.org. from the original on 28 April 2009. Retrieved 19 June 2009.
6. "Dáil elections since 1918". ARK Northern Ireland. from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2009.
7. Nohlen, Dieter; Stöver, Philip (2010). Elections in Europe: A data handbook. pp. 1009–1017. ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7.

Further reading

• Nealon, Ted; Dunlop, Frank (1977). Ted Nealon's guide to the 21st Dáil and Seanad. ISBN 0950598410.