Irish general election, 1997

The Irish general election of 1997 was held on Friday, 6 June 1997. The 166 newly elected members of the 28th Dáil assembled on 26 June 1997 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.

Overview

The 1997 general election saw the public offered a choice of two possible coalitions. The existing government coalition of Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Democratic Left – the so-called "Rainbow Coalition". This, in very broad terms could be described as a centre left coalition. It was opposed by a coalition of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats, which most Irish commentators regarded as a centre right coalition.

Following the election none of the major parties had a clear majority. A Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats coalition was the result of various negotiations. Four Independent Teachta Dála (TDs) also supported the government ensuring an overall majority. Bertie Ahern became the tenth Taoiseach while Mary Harney of the Progressive Democrats became Tánaiste.

Fine Gael increased its number of deputies but crossed the Dáil chamber to the Opposition benches. Dick Spring retired as leader of the Labour Party and was replaced by Ruairi Quinn. Fianna Fáil increased seat numbers, but the Progressive Democrats had a disastrous election, losing more than half of its seats, including ones thought safe such as Cork North Central and Dún Laoghaire, despite no decrease in its vote. The Green Party picked up an extra seat, with John Gormley elected in Dublin South East. He was elected by just over 30 votes after a marathon recount lasting 4 days saw Progressive Democrat Michael McDowell defeated. The main feature of the election, however, was the collapse of the Labour Party vote - not only did they lose seats they had picked up in the 1992 general election, when their vote was an at all-time high, such as in Clare and Laois-Offaly, but they also lost reasonably safe Labour Party seats, such as in Dublin North, Dublin Central and Cork South Central.

Result

Irish Election Summary Begin
ordinal = 28th
year = 1997
prevelecyear = 1992Irish Election Summary Party
party = Fianna Fáil
leader = Bertie Ahern
seats-prev = 68
dail%-prev = 40.9
seats-diss = 67
dail%-diss = 39.8
seats = 77
dail% = 47.0
seats-chg = +10
dail%-chg = +7.2
votes-prev = 674.7
%-prev = 39.1
votes = 703.7
% = 39.3
%-chg = +0.2Irish Election Summary Party
party = Fine Gael
leader = John Bruton
seats-prev = 45
dail%-prev = 27.7
seats-diss = 47
dail%-diss = 28.9
seats = 54
dail% = 32.6
seats-chg = +7
dail%-chg = +3.7
votes-prev = 422.1
%-prev = 24.5
votes = 499.9
% = 27.9
%-chg = +3.4Irish Election Summary Party
party = Labour Party (Ireland)
leader = Dick Spring
seats-prev = 33
dail%-prev = 19.9
seats-diss = 32
dail%-diss = 19.3
seats = 17
dail% = 10.2
seats-chg = -15
dail%-chg = -9.1
votes-prev = 333.0
%-prev = 19.3
votes = 186.0
% = 10.4
%-chg = -8.9Irish Election Summary Party
party = Progressive Democrats
leader = Mary Harney
seats-prev = 10
dail%-prev = 6.0
seats-diss = 9
dail%-diss = 5.4
seats = 4
dail% = 2.4
seats-chg = -5
dail%-chg = -3.0
votes-prev = 80.8
%-prev = 4.7
votes = 83.8
% = 4.7
%-chg = 0.0Irish Election Summary Party
party = Democratic Left (Ireland)
leader = Proinsias De Rossa
seats-prev = 4
dail%-prev = 2.4
seats-diss = 6
dail%-diss = 3.6
seats = 4
dail% = 2.4
seats-chg = -2
dail%-chg = -1.2
votes-prev = 48.0
%-prev = 2.8
votes = 44.9
% = 2.5
%-chg = -0.3Irish Election Summary Party
party = Green Party (Ireland)
leader = "none"
seats-prev = 1
dail%-prev = 0.6
seats-diss = 1
dail%-diss = 0.6
seats = 2
dail% = 1.2
seats-chg = +1
dail%-chg = +1.2
votes-prev = 24.1
%-prev = 1.4
votes = 49.3
% = 2.8
%-chg = +1.4Irish Election Summary Party
party = Sinn Féin
leader = Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin¹
seats-prev = -
dail%-prev = -
seats-diss = -
dail%-diss = -
seats = 1
dail% = 0.6
seats-chg = +1
dail%-chg = +0.6
votes-prev = 27.8
%-prev = 1.6
votes = 45.6
% = 2.6
%-chg = +1.0Irish Election Summary Party
party = Socialist Party (Ireland)
leader = Joe Higgins
seats-prev = -
dail%-prev = -
seats-diss = -
dail%-diss = -
seats = 1
dail% = 0.6
seats-chg = +1
dail%-chg = +0.6
votes-prev = -
%-prev = -
votes = 12.4
% = 0.7
%-chg = +0.7Irish Election Summary Oth
seats-prev = -
dail%-prev = -
seats-diss = -
dail%-diss = -
seats = -
dail% = -
seats-chg = -
dail%-chg = -
votes-prev = 14.0
%-prev = 0.8
votes = 40.2
% = 2.2
%-chg = +1.4Irish Election Summary Inds
seats-prev = 4
dail%-prev = 1.8
seats-diss = 3
dail%-diss = 1.8
seats = 6
dail% = 3.6
seats-chg = +3
dail%-chg = +1.8
votes-prev = 100.4
%-prev = 5.8
votes = 123.1
% = 6.9
%-chg = +1.1Irish Election Summary CC
seats-prev = 1
dail%-prev = 0.6
seats-diss = 1
dail%-diss = 0.6
seats = -
dail% = -
seats-chg = -1
dail%-chg = -0.6Irish Election Summary End
seats-vac = 0
dail%-vac = 0.0
totseats-prev = 166
totseats = 166
totseats-chg = 0
totvotes-prev = 1725.0
totvotes = 1789.0

eats won

Dáil membership changes

The following changes took place as a result of the election. Of the 166 outgoing TDs, 17 retired, including the Ceann Comhairle. Of the 149 TDs that stood for re-election, 121 were re-elected and 28 failed to be re-elected. Of the 45 successor TDs, 32 were elected for the first time and 13 had previously been TDs. There were 6 successor women TDs, decreasing the total number by 3 to 21.

Outgoing TDs are listed in the constituency they constested in the election. For some, such as Kildare North, 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.

Elected in subsequent by-elections

* Mary Upton
* Jan O'Sullivan
* Séamus Healy
* Tom Hayes
* Simon Coveney
* Seán Ryan

Footnotes

# After the election, while Gerry Adams was leader of the Sinn Féin party, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin became leader (indeed, sole member) of the Sinn Féin "parliamentary party."

ee also

* Government of the 28th Dáil
* Members of the 28th Dáil
* Ministers of State of the 28th Dáil

External References

* [http://www.electionsireland.org/results/general/28dail.cfm ElectionsIreland.org – 1997]