1944 Irish general election

Election to the 12th Dáil July 2021 July 2016 1944 Irish general election Ireland parliamentary no 1943 Irish general election 1943 30 May 1944 1948 Irish general election 1948 138 seats in Dáil ÉireannCC Including Frank Fahy (FF), returned automatically for Galway East as outgoing Ceann Comhairle, under Art. 16.6 of the Constitution and the Electoral (Chairman of Dáil Éireann) Act 1937.1937 25 Electoral (Chairman of Dáil Éireann) Act 1937 1 November 1937 3 Re-election of outgoing Ceann Comhairle12th Dáil 1944: Galway East https://electionsireland.org/result.cfm?election=1944&cons=122 ElectionsIreland.org 9 July 2022 70 69.2% 5.0 pp 11th Dáil 12th Dáil De Valera, 1939 (cropped).jpg 144 120 160 0 8 Éamon de Valera Fianna Fáil 26 March 1926 Clare 67 seats, 41.9% 76 9 595,259 48.9% 7.0 pp Gen. Richard Mulcahy cropped.jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Richard Mulcahy 1944 Fine Gael Tipperary 32 seats, 23.1% 30 2 249,329 20.5% 2.6 pp Joseph Blowick, 1950 (cropped).jpg 130 120 160 0 10 Joseph Blowick 1944 Clann na Talmhan Mayo South 10 seats, 9.0% 9 1 122,745 10.8% 1.8 pp William Norton, circa 1945 (cropped).png 120 120 160 0 0 William Norton 1932 Labour Party (Ireland) Carlow–Kildare 17 seats, 15.7% 8 9 106,767 8.7% 7.0 pp James Everett, 1949.jpg 120 120 160 0 0 James Everett 1944 National Labour Party (Ireland) Wicklow New party 4 New 32,732 2.7% New party 400px Election results and first-preference votes in each constituency 400px Number of seats gained by each party in each constituency Taoiseach Éamon de Valera Fianna Fáil Taoiseach after election Éamon de Valera Fianna Fáil The 1944 Irish general election to the 12th Dáil was held on Tuesday, 30 May, having been called on 10 May by President Douglas Hyde on the advice of Taoiseach Éamon de Valera.Proclamation of a General Election, 1944 https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/1944-06-20/1/ Oireachtas.ie 10 November 2025 The general election took place in 34 parliamentary constituencies for 138 seats in Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas. Fianna Fáil won an overall majority. The outgoing 11th Dáil was dissolved on 7 June. The 12th Dáil met at Leinster House on 9 June to nominate the Taoiseach for appointment by the president and to approve the appointment of a new government of Ireland on the nomination of the Taoiseach. Outgoing Taoiseach Éamon de Valera was re-appointed leading a single-party Fianna Fáil government. Calling the election The outgoing Fianna Fáil government, formed on 1 July 1943, was a minority government. On 9 May 1944, it suffered a defeat in a vote to delay the second reading of its Transport Bill.Transport Bill, 1944—Second Stage—(Resumed). Dáil Éireann - 09 May 1944 https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/vote/dail/11/1944-05-09/1/ Houses of the Oireachtas 16 December 2022 Taoiseach Éamon de Valera sought a snap election, just one year after the previous election, in hopes of getting an overall majority. It was the second election called under the General Elections (Emergency Provisions) Act 1943.http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/cons/en/html#article16_3_1 Constitution of Ireland Irish Statute Book Article 16.3 y 27 March 2018 3 May 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190503055502/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/cons/en/html#article16_3_1 live ; 1943 11 General Elections (Emergency Provisions) Act 1943 27 March 2018https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1944-05-10/speech/42/ Adjournment of the Dáil de Valera Éamon 10 May 1944 y Vol.93 No.15 p.3 c.2497–2498 I did not ask for a dissolution of the Dáil. This Dáil would not have been meeting to-day if there had been a dissolution. ... I did not ask for a dissolution, because we passed an Act last year to enable the Dáil, during this critical period, to be brought together at any time that there was need for doing so, so that the Executive at any time would have to assemble the Dáil in case there was any national issue that demanded its assembly. ... when the Dáil adjourns now it will not meet again unless there is some national issue which makes it necessary to call the Dáil together. 15 June 2020 23 September 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210923214551/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1944-05-10/2/ live The Act, intended to increase national security by minimising the interval during which no Dáil is in existence, subvented the requirement under the Constitution for the president to dissolve the Dáil before a general election took place, and was permitted under the state of emergency in effect during the Second World War.https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1943-04-14/18/ General Elections (Emergency Provisions) Bill, 1943—Second Stage. 14 April 1943 Dáil Éireann debates Oireachtas 15 June 2020 15 June 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200615192657/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1943-04-14/18/ live The election was called in the early hours of 10 May but the Dáil met as scheduled that day, when an adjournment debate was held in which the opposition TDs condemned the decision to hold an election in wartime as unnecessary and reckless. The 11th Dáil was dissolved on 7 June 1944.Dáil dissolved subscription https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1944/0608/Pg003.html#Ar00332 The Irish Times 8 June 1944 3 The nature of the visit to the president to obtain the election was also criticised, with opposition figures noting that the President could have refused to proclaim a general election and might've done in different circumstances. We find the Taoiseach arriving in the darkness of the night in the house of an aged man whom everyone knows to be in anything but a perfect state of health. One can imagine the scene — the Taoiseach full of venom against a democratic Parliament which had unseated his Government. One is left to imagine the tone in which the demand for a dissolution was presented to the aged man in the Park last night. Like Deputy O'Higgins I want to express sympathy with the President in the advantage which was taken of him last night and of the nocturnal intrusion of an annoyed and outraged Taoiseach. — William Norton TD.Norton William Leader of the Labour Party https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1944-05-10/2/ Oireachtas.ie Dáil Eireann, 10th May 1944 10 November 2025 President Hyde called the election as per De Valera's, with the proclamation signed in the early hours of 10 May. Campaign The campaign was not wanted by the opposition parties. Fianna Fáil fought the election on its record in government and also in the hope of securing a fresh mandate for its policies. During the campaign Fine Gael put forward the proposal of forming a coalition government with the Labour Party and Clann na Talmhan; however, this was ridiculed by Fianna Fáil as untenable. National Labour had split from Labour in January 1944. Due to the fractured nature of the opposition, Éamon de Valera's tactic of calling a snap general election succeeded, with Fianna Fáil increasing its share of seats, as it had in the previous snap elections of 1933 and 1938. Result 12th 30 May 1944 http://electionsireland.org/results/general/12dail.cfm 12th Dáil 1944 General Election ElectionsIreland.org 2 May 2009 3 June 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20090603190745/http://electionsireland.org/results/general/12dail.cfm live http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/gdala.htm Dáil elections since 1918 ARK Northern Ireland 2 May 2009 27 November 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20201127122828/https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/gdala.htm live Maurice Manning (1972) notes that the Clann na Talmhan figure is often listed in error, due to the inclusion of Independent Farmer TDs in the CnaT total.Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen Philip Stöver 2010 Elections in Europe: A data handbook 1009–1017 Nomos 978-3-8329-5609-7 center|360px Fianna Fáil Éamon de Valera 76CC +9 55.1 595,259 48.9 +7.0 Fine Gael Richard Mulcahy 30 –2 21.8 249,329 20.5 –2.6 Clann na Talmhan Joseph Blowick 9 –1 6.5 122,745 10.1 +0.3 Labour Party (Ireland) William Norton 8 –9 5.8 106,767 8.8 –6.9 National Labour Party (Ireland) James Everett 4 New 2.9 32,732 2.7 – Irish Monetary Reform Association Oliver J. Flanagan 1 0 0.7 9,856 0.8 +0.5 Ailtirí na hAiséirghe 0 0 0 5,809 0.5 +0.3 Independent politician (Ireland) N/A 10 0 7.2 94,852 7.8 –0.9 12,790 138 0 1,230,139 1,816,142 69.2% |} Voting summary First preference vote #ddd 600px 350px Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil 48.9 Fine Gael Fine Gael 20.5 Clann na Talmhan Clann na Talmhan 10.1 Labour Labour Party (Ireland) 8.8 National Labour National Labour Party (Ireland) 2.7 Monetary Reform Irish Monetary Reform Association 0.8 Ailtirí na hAiséirghe Ailtirí na hAiséirghe 0.5 Independent Independent politician (Ireland) 7.8 Seats summary Dáil seats #ddd 600px 350px Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil 55.1 Fine Gael Fine Gael 21.8 Clann na Talmhan Clann na Talmhan 6.5 Labour Labour Party (Ireland) 5.8 National Labour National Labour Party (Ireland) 2.9 Monetary Reform Irish Monetary Reform Association 0.7 Independent Independent politician (Ireland) 7.2 Government formation Fianna Fáil formed the 4th government of Ireland, a majority government. Changes in membership First-time TDs Thomas Brennan Harry Colley Eamonn Coogan Walter Furlong Michael Lydon Patrick McAuliffe John S. O'Connor Mary Ryan Re-elected TDs John A. Costello Frank Loughman Peter O'Loghlen Eamonn O'Neill Laurence Walsh Richard Walsh (regained seat) Outgoing TDs Ernest Benson Sir John Esmonde, Bt James Larkin Timothy Linehan Richard Stapleton Retiring TDs Jeremiah Ryan W. T. Cosgrave Seanad election The election was followed by an election to the 5th Seanad. Notes References Sources Maurice Manning Maurice Manning 1972 Irish Political Parties: An Introduction Dublin Gill & Macmillan 978-0-7171-0536-6 Category:1944 elections in Europe General election, 1944 1944 Category:12th Dáil Category:May 1944 in Europe General election