# November 1982 Irish general election

The November 1982 Irish general election to the 24th Dáil was held on Wednesday, 24 November, three weeks after the dissolution of the 23rd Dáil on 4 November by President Patrick Hillery, on the request of Taoiseach Charles Haughey following a defeat of the government in a motion of confidence. The general election took place in 41 Dáil constituencies throughout Ireland for 166 seats in Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas.
The 24th Dáil met at Leinster House on 14 December to nominate the Taoiseach for appointment by the president and to approve the appointment of a new government of Ireland. Garret FitzGerald was appointed Taoiseach, forming the 19th government of Ireland, a coalition government of Fine Gael and the Labour Party.

## Campaign

The second general election of 1982 took place just nine months after the election in February of the same year. It was the first time there had been three general elections within eighteen months.
The general election was caused by the loss of support of the Independent Teachta Dála (TD) Tony Gregory and the Workers' Party for the Fianna Fáil government. This was due to the government introducing substantial budget cuts, which the left-wing TDs would not support. While economic issues dominated the campaign, the parties were weary of having to fight yet another general election.

## Result

Election to the 24th Dáil – 24 November 1982 :
| Party | Party | Leader | Seats | ± | % of seats | First pref. votes | % FPv | ±% |
| | Fianna Fáil | Charles Haughey | 75 | –6 | 45.2 | 763,313 | 45.2 | –2.1 |
| | Fine Gael | Garret FitzGerald | 70 | +7 | 42.2 | 662,284 | 39.2 | +1.9 |
| | Labour | Dick Spring | 16 | +1 | 9.6 | 158,115 | 9.4 | +0.3 |
| | Workers' Party | Tomás Mac Giolla | 2 | –1 | 1.2 | 54,888 | 3.3 | +1.0 |
| | Democratic Socialist | Jim Kemmy | 0 | New | 0 | 7,012 | 0.4 | – |
| | Green | | 0 | New | 0 | 3,716 | 0.2 | – |
| | Irish Republican Socialist | Jim Lane | 0 | 0 | 0 | 398 | 0.0 | -0.2 |
| | Communist | Eugene McCartan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 259 | 0.0 | 0 |
| | Independent | N/A | 3 | –1 | 1.2 | 38,735 | 2.3 | –0.5 |
| Spoilt votes | Spoilt votes | Spoilt votes | Spoilt votes | Spoilt votes | Spoilt votes | 12,665 | — | — |
| Total | Total | Total | 166 | 0 | 100 | 1,701,385 | 100 | — |
| Electorate/Turnout | Electorate/Turnout | Electorate/Turnout | Electorate/Turnout | Electorate/Turnout | Electorate/Turnout | 2,335,153 | 72.9% | — |
Independents include Independent Fianna Fáil (7,997 votes, 1 seat).

### Voting summary

First preference vote
Fianna Fáil
45.20%
Fine Gael
39.22%
Labour
9.36%
Workers'
3.25%
Others
0.67%
Independent
2.29% :

### Seats summary

Dáil seats
Fianna Fáil
45.18%
Fine Gael
42.17%
Labour
9.64%
Workers'
1.20%
Independent
1.81% :

## Government formation

Fine Gael and the Labour Party formed the 19th government of Ireland, a majority coalition.
Fine Gael won 39.2% of the vote, the highest ever in its history. It also recorded its best election result until 2011, coming within five seats of Fianna Fáil; at other times (such as 1977) 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.

## Dáil membership changes

The following changes took place as a result of the election:
* 5 outgoing TDs retired
* 1 vacant seat at election time
* 159 outgoing TDs stood for re-election (also John O'Connell, the outgoing Ceann Comhairle who was automatically returned)
** 138 of those were re-elected
** 21 failed to be re-elected
* 27 successor TDs were elected
** 18 were elected for the first time
** 9 had previously been TDs
* There were 6 successor female TDs, increasing the total by 6 to 14.
* There were changes in 22 of the 41 constituencies contested
Where more than one change took place in a constituency the concept of successor is an approximation for presentation only.
| Constituency | Departing TD | Party | Party | Change | Comment | Successor TD | Party | Party |
| Carlow–Kilkenny | Jim Gibbons | | Fianna Fáil | Lost seat | | M. J. Nolan | | Fianna Fáil |
| Carlow–Kilkenny | Desmond Governey | | Fine Gael | Retired | | Dick Dowling | | Fine Gael |
| Cavan–Monaghan | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Clare | Bill Loughnane | | Fianna Fáil | Vacant | Taylor-Quinn: Former TD | Madeleine Taylor-Quinn | | Fine Gael |
| Cork East | Joe Sherlock | | Workers' Party | Lost seat | | Ned O'Keeffe | | Fianna Fáil |
| Cork East | Seán French | | Fianna Fáil | Lost seat | | Dan Wallace | | Fianna Fáil |
| Cork North-Central | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Cork North-West | Thomas Meaney | | Fianna Fáil | Retired | | Donal Moynihan | | Fianna Fáil |
| Cork South-Central | Jim Corr | | Fine Gael | Retired | Coveney: Former TD | Hugh Coveney | | Fine Gael |
| Cork South-West | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Donegal North-East | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Donegal South-West | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Dublin Central | Michael O'Leary | | Fine Gael | Moved | O'Leary moved to Dublin Central, Glenn: Former TD | Alice Glenn | | Fine Gael |
| Dublin North | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Dublin North-Central | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Dublin North-East | Ned Brennan | | Fianna Fáil | Lost seat | Fitzgerald: Former TD | Liam Fitzgerald | | Fianna Fáil |
| Dublin North-West | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Dublin South | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Dublin South-Central | Tom Fitzpatrick | | Fianna Fáil | Lost seat | O'Brien: Former TD | Fergus O'Brien | | Fine Gael |
| Dublin South-East | Alexis Fitzgerald | | Fine Gael | Lost seat | | Joe Doyle | | Fine Gael |
| Dublin South-West | Larry McMahon | | Fine Gael | Lost seat | | Michael O'Leary | | Fine Gael |
| Dublin West | Brian Fleming | | Fine Gael | Lost seat | | Tomas Mac Giolla | | Workers' Party |
| Dublin West | Liam Lawlor | | Fianna Fáil | Lost seat | Lemass: Former TD | Eileen Lemass | | Fianna Fáil |
| Dún Laoghaire | Martin O'Donoghue | | Fianna Fáil | Lost seat | | Monica Barnes | | Fine Gael |
| Galway East | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Galway West | Michael D. Higgins | | Labour Party | Lost seat | | Fintan Coogan Jnr | | Fine Gael |
| Kerry North | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Kerry South | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Kildare | Gerry Brady | | Fianna Fáil | Lost seat | Durkan: Former TD | Bernard Durkan | | Fine Gael |
| Laois–Offaly | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Limerick East | Jim Kemmy | | Democratic Socialist Party | Lost seat | | Frank Prendergast | | Labour Party |
| Limerick West | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Longford–Westmeath | Seán Keegan | | Fianna Fáil | Lost seat | | Mary O'Rourke | | Fianna Fáil |
| Louth | Thomas Bellew | | Fianna Fáil | Lost seat | | Michael Bell | | Labour Party |
| Louth | Eddie Filgate | | Fianna Fáil | Retired | | Séamus Kirk | | Fianna Fáil |
| Louth | Bernard Markey | | Fine Gael | Lost seat | | Brendan McGahon | | Fine Gael |
| Mayo East | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Mayo West | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Meath | Michael Lynch | | Fianna Fáil | Lost seat | | Frank McLoughlin | | Labour Party |
| Roscommon | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Sligo–Leitrim | John Ellis | | Fianna Fáil | Lost seat | McCartin: Former TD | Joe McCartin | | Fine Gael |
| Tipperary North | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Tipperary South | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes | No membership changes |
| Waterford | Patrick Gallagher | | Workers' Party | Lost seat | | Donal Ormonde | | Fianna Fáil |
| Wexford | Lorcan Allen | | Fianna Fáil | Lost seat | | Avril Doyle | | Fine Gael |
| Wexford | Seán Browne | | Fianna Fáil | Retired | | John Browne | | Fianna Fáil |
| Wicklow | Ciarán Murphy | | Fianna Fáil | Lost seat | Brennan: Former TD | Paudge Brennan | | Fianna Fáil |

## Seanad election

The Dáil election was followed in early 1983 by an election to the 17th Seanad.