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‹ 1981 · members  members · 1982 ›
Irish general election, February 1982
165 of 166 seats in Dáil Éireann
18 February 1982
		First party	Second party	Third party
Leader		Charles Haughey	Garret FitzGerald	Michael O'Leary
Party		Fianna Fáil	Fine Gael	Labour Party
Leader since		1979	1977	1982
Leader's seat		Dublin North Central	Dublin South East	Dublin Central
Last election		77 seats, 45.3%	65 seats, 36.5%	15 seats, 9.9%
Seats won		81	63	15
Seat change		+4	–2	±0
Percentage		47.3%	37.3%	9.1%
Swing		+2.0%	+0.8%	–0.8%
		Fourth party
Leader		Tomás Mac Giolla
Party		Sinn Féin (Workers Party)
Leader since		1977
Leader's seat		N/A
Last election		1 seat, 1.7%
Seats won		3
Seat change		+2
Percentage		2.2%
Swing		+0.5%
Previous Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald Fine Gael Subsequent Taoiseach Charles Haughey Fianna Fáil

The Irish general election of February 1982 was held on 18 February 1982, three weeks after the dissolution of the Dáil on 27 January. The newly elected 166 members of the 23rd Dáil assembled at Leinster House on 9 March when a new Taoiseach and government were appointed.

The general election took place in 41 parliamentary constituencies throughout Ireland for 166 seats in the lower house of parliament, Dáil Éireann.

Campaign

The first general election of 1982 was caused by the sudden collapse of the Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition government when the budget was defeated. The Minister for Finance John Bruton, attempted to put VAT on children shoes, a measure which was rejected by some left-wing independent Teachta Dála (TDs). The Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald dissolved the Dáil immediately. However, while he was with President Patrick Hillery at Áras an Uachtaráin, a number of Fianna Fáil members attempted to ring the President, urging him not to grant a dissolution. If the President refused a dissolution, FitzGerald would have to resign and Fianna Fáil would be invited to form a government. The attempt to contact the President was highly unconstitutional, as the President can only take advice from the Taoiseach. In the event, a dissolution was granted and the general election campaign began in earnest.

The campaign was largely fought on economic issues. Spending cuts were a reality for whatever party won, but the scale of the cuts were played down by all parties. Fine Gael proposed to continue the policies that it had been implementing while in office. The Fianna Fáil leader Charles Haughey dismissed the need for budget cuts when the campaign first began, however, the reality soon became apparent and the party adopted similar policies that involved budget cuts.

Result

• Fianna Fáil minority government formed.

Fianna Fáil emerged as the largest party and looked most likely to form a government. However, internal divisions within the party threatened Charles Haughey's nomination for Taoiseach. In the end a leadership challenge did not take place and Haughey was the party's nominee for Taoiseach. Haughey gained the support of the Independent TD Tony Gregory, the Independent Fianna Fáil TD Neil Blaney and the three Sinn Féin the Workers Party deputies and was appointed Taoiseach.

First time TDs

A total of 21 TDs were elected for the first time:

By-elections

• Liam Skelly
• Noel Treacy

Outgoing TDs

• Carrie Acheson (Lost seat)
• Hugh Byrne (Lost seat)
• Peadar Clohessy (Lost seat)
• John Connor (Lost seat)
• Fergus O'Brien (Lost seat)
• Richie Ryan (Retired)
• Madeleine Taylor-Quinn (Lost seat)
• James Tully (Retired)

See also

• Members of the 23rd Dáil
• Government of the 23rd Dáil

References

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