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 The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the offi ...

Liam Cosgrave. The general election took place in 42

Dáil constituencies There are 39 multi-member electoral districts, known as Dáil constituencies, that elect 160 TDs (members of parliament), to Dáil Éireann, Ireland's lower house of the Oireachtas, or parliament, by means of the single transferable vote, to ...

throughout Ireland for 148 seats in

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland r ...

, the house of representatives of the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the bicameral parliament of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The two houses of the Oireachtas ( ga, Tithe an Oireachtais): **Dáil Éireann ...

, an increase of four seats with a significant revision of constituencies under the

Electoral (Amendment) Act 1974 The Electoral (Amendment) Act 1974 (No. 7) was a law in Ireland which revised Dáil constituencies. It was a review of parliamentary constituencies passed in Ireland by the governing Fine Gael– Labour Party National Coalition. It was inten ...

. The election is regarded as a pivotal point in twentieth-century Irish politics. Jack Lynch led

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian ...

to a landslide election win, clearly defeating the outgoing

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil � ...

– Labour government. 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 The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The go ...

. Jack Lynch was appointed Taoiseach, forming the

15th Government of Ireland 15 (fifteen) is the natural number following 14 and preceding 16. Mathematics 15 is: * A composite number, and the sixth semiprime; its proper divisors being , and . * A deficient number, a smooth number, a lucky number, a pernicious num ...

, 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

– 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 The Electoral (Amendment) Act 1974 (No. 7) was a law in Ireland which revised Dáil constituencies. It was a review of parliamentary constituencies passed in Ireland by the governing Fine Gael– Labour Party National Coalition. It was intended ...

" 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 Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

there were thirteen three-seat constituencies. It was hoped that the coalition partners would win two of the seats, leaving

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 ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' 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 The National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces ( ar, الائتلاف الوطني لقوى الثورة والمعارضة السورية), commonly named the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) ( ar, الائتلاف الو ...

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

Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Ta ...

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

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

Voting summary

Seats summary

Government formation

formed a majority government, the

led by Jack Lynch as Taoiseach. In December 1979, Charles Haughey succeeded Lynch as Taoiseach, forming the

16th Government of Ireland 16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. 16 is a composite number, and a square number, being 42 = 4 × 4. It is the smallest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being , , and . In English speech, ...

Membership changes

First time TDs

42 TDs were elected for the first time: * Bertie Ahern * Kit Ahern *

Niall Andrews Niall Andrews (19 August 1937 – 16 October 2006) was an Irish politician. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Fianna Fáil party. Andrews was born in Dublin. He was educated at Synge Str ...

Liam Aylward Liam Aylward (born 27 September 1952) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as a Minister of State from 1988 to 1989, from 1992 to 1994 and from 2004 to 2004. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East co ...

* John Boland *

Gerard Brady Gerard Brady (1 July 1936 – 16 May 2020) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister for Education from October to December 1982. Brady was born in Dublin in 1936. He was educated at St. Mary's College in Rathmines and later ...

* Vincent Brady * Barry Cogan *

Hugh Conaghan Hugh Conaghan (6 May 1926 – 24 March 2020) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and transport official. He was an unsuccessful candidate at the Donegal North-East by-election on 10 June 1976. He was elected to Dáil Éireann as Fianna Fáil ...

Michael Joe Cosgrave Michael Joe Cosgrave (9 March 1938 – 9 January 2022) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1977 to 1992 and 1997 to 2002. Cosgrave was born on 9 March 1938. He was educated at St. Joseph's Secondary CBS in ...

Michael D'Arcy Michael D'Arcy (born 7 March 1934) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician, who served as a TD for the Wexford constituency. D'Arcy's political career began in 1958, when his father Timothy died and Michael was co-opted into his county counci ...

* Síle de Valera * Austin Deasy * Seán Doherty * Eddie Filgate * Jim Fitzsimons *

Pádraig Flynn Pádraig Flynn (born 9 May 1939) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as European Commissioner for Social Affairs from 1993 to 1999, Minister for Industry and Commerce and Minister for Justice from 1992 to 1993, Minister for the ...

* Joe Fox * John Horgan *

Michael Keating Michael, Mike or Mickey Keating may refer to: Politics * Michael Keating (Irish politician) (born 1946), Fine Gael then Progressive Democrats TD from Dublin * Michael Keating (Manitoba politician) * Michael Keating (political scientist) (born 1950 ...

* Seán Keegan * Patrick Kerrigan * Timothy Killeen *

Mark Killilea Jnr Mark Killilea Jnr (5 September 1939 – 31 December 2018) was a farmer, auctioneer and agricultural contractor who served as an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. In a 30-year political career, served as a Teachta Dála (TD) and Member of the Europ ...

Liam Lawlor Liam Lawlor (1 October 1945 – 22 October 2005) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He resigned from the Fianna Fáil in 2000 following a finding by a party standards committee that he had failed to co-operate with its investigation into pl ...

* Eileen Lemass * Tom Leonard * Terry Leyden *

Michael Lipper Michael Lipper (15 June 1931 – 18 October 1987) was an Irish Labour Party politician who served for four years as an Independent TD for the Limerick East constituency. He was born 15 June 1931 in Garryowen, Limerick, fifth of ten children ...

John Mannion Jnr John Martin Mannion (26 October 1944 – 2 April 2006) was an Irish Fine Gael politician from Clifden, County Galway. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for four years and a senator for 10 years. A farmer, auctioneer and businessman before entering p ...

* Charlie McCreevy * Jim Mitchell *

P. J. Morley Patrick Joseph Morley (1 March 1931 – 30 September 2012) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. Morley was from Claremorris, County Mayo. He qualified as a primary school teacher. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil T ...

* William O'Brien *

Martin O'Donoghue Martin O'Donoghue (19 May 1933 – 20 July 2018) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister for Education from March 1982 to October 1982, Minister for Economic Planning and Development from 1977 to 1979 and Minister without ...

* Rory O'Hanlon * Jim O'Keeffe *

Paddy O'Toole Patrick O'Toole (born 15 January 1938) is a former Irish Fine Gael politician. He was nominated by the Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave to the 13th Seanad Éireann in 1973. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann on his second attempt at the 1977 gen ...

* Ruairi Quinn * Albert Reynolds * Joe Walsh * Michael Woods

Outgoing TDs

Liam Burke Liam Burke (2 February 1928 – 21 August 2005) was an Irish Fine Gael politician. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork North-Central constituency. Burke was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1969 general election for Cork City North-We ...

(Lost seat) * Ruairí Brugha (Lost seat) *

Justin Keating Justin Pascal Keating (7 January 1930 – 31 December 2009) was an Irish Labour Party politician, broadcaster, journalist, lecturer and veterinary surgeon. In later life he was president of the Humanist Association of Ireland. Keating was twic ...

(Lost seat) * Conor Cruise O'Brien (Lost seat) * Seán Flanagan (Lost seat) *

Richard Gogan Richard P. Gogan (29 November 1899 – 28 April 1982) was a member of the Irish Volunteers who fought in the 1916 Easter Rising. In later life, he became a Fianna Fáil politician. Early and personal life He was the son of William J. Gogan and ...

(Lost seat) *

Gus Healy Augustine A. Healy (20 May 1904 – 10 July 1987) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. A dental laboratory proprietor, Healy was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork Borough constituency at the 195 ...

(Retired) * Brigid Hogan-O'Higgins (Lost seat) * Eugene Timmons (Lost seat)

Campaign

Result

Voting summary

Seats summary

Government formation

Membership changes

First time TDs

Outgoing TDs

See also

Notes

References

Further reading