Cavan (Dáil constituency)

Cavan is a former parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas, from 1921 to 1977. The method of election was proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).

Cavan
Former Dáil constituency
Former constituency
Created	1921
Abolished	1977
Seats	3 (1921–1923) 4 (1923–1961) 3 (1961–1977)
Local government area	County Cavan
Created from	East Cavan West Cavan
Replaced by	Cavan–Monaghan

History and boundaries

The constituency was created in 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920 as a 3-seat constituency for the Southern Ireland House of Commons and a single-seat constituency for the United Kingdom House of Commons at Westminster, combining the former Westminster constituencies of East Cavan and West Cavan.^[1] At the 1921 election for the Southern Ireland House of Commons, the three seats were won uncontested by Sinn Féin, who treated it as part of the election to the Second Dáil.^[2] It was never used as a Westminster constituency; under the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922, no writ was to be issued "for a constituency in Ireland other than a constituency in Northern Ireland".^[3] Therefore, no vote was held in Cavan at the 1922 United Kingdom general election on 15 November 1922, shortly before the Irish Free State left the United Kingdom on 6 December 1922.

The constituency was recreated under the Electoral Act 1923, the first electoral act of the new state.^[4] At the 1977 general election, the Cavan and Monaghan constituencies were abolished and succeeded by the new 5-seat Cavan–Monaghan constituency.^[5]

Changes to the Cavan constituency

Years	TDs	Boundaries	Notes
1921–1923	3	County Cavan[1]	Constituency created from East Cavan and West Cavan
1923–1961	4	County Cavan[4][6][7]
1961–1969	3	County Cavan[8]
1969–1977	3	County Cavan and; in the County Meath[9] the district electoral divisions of Moybolgue, Moynalty, Newcastle, Newtown, Trohanny, in the former Rural District of Kells; Crossakeel, Crosskeys, Killallon, Killeagh, Knocklough, Moylagh, Oldcastle, Stonefield, in the former Rural District of Oldcastle.	Transfer from Meath
1977[5]	—	Constituency abolished	County Cavan became part of Cavan–Monaghan with the part in County Meath transferred to Meath

TDs

Teachtaí Dála (TDs) for Cavan 1921–1977[10]
Key to parties   CnaP = Clann na Poblachta   CnaT = Clann na Talmhan   CnaG = Cumann na nGaedheal   FP = Farmers' Party   FF = Fianna Fáil   FG = Fine Gael   Ind = Independent   NCP = National Centre Party   Rep = Republican   SF = Sinn Féin   PT-SF = Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty)
Dáil	Election	Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)
2nd	1921[11]		Arthur Griffith (SF)		Paul Galligan (SF)		Seán Milroy (SF)	3 seats 1921–1923
3rd	1922[12]		Arthur Griffith (PT-SF)		Walter L. Cole (PT-SF)		Seán Milroy (PT-SF)
4th	1923[13]		Patrick Smith (Rep)		John James Cole (Ind)		Seán Milroy (CnaG)		Patrick Baxter (FP)
	1925 by-election[14]						John Joe O'Reilly (CnaG)
5th	1927 (Jun)[15]		Paddy Smith (FF)		John O'Hanlon (Ind)
6th	1927 (Sep)[16]								John James Cole (Ind)
7th	1932[17]								Michael Sheridan (FF)
8th	1933[18]				Patrick McGovern (NCP)
9th	1937[19]				Patrick McGovern (FG)		John James Cole (Ind)
10th	1938[20]
11th	1943[21]				Patrick O'Reilly (CnaT)
12th	1944[22]						Tom O'Reilly (Ind)
13th	1948[23]				John Tully (CnaP)		Patrick O'Reilly (Ind)
14th	1951[24]						Patrick O'Reilly (FG)
15th	1954[25]
16th	1957[26]
17th	1961[27]				Séamus Dolan (FF)			3 seats 1961–1977
18th	1965[28]				John Tully (CnaP)		Tom Fitzpatrick (FG)
19th	1969[29]				Patrick O'Reilly (FG)
20th	1973[30]				John Wilson (FF)
21st	1977	Constituency abolished. See Cavan–Monaghan

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

Elections

^ *: Outgoing TD

1973 general election

1973 general election: Cavan^[30][31]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Fine Gael	Thomas J. Fitzpatrick[*]	28.1	7,276
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick Smith[*]	23.1	5,979	6,292	6,685	8,657
	Fianna Fáil	John Wilson	14.9	3,846	4,073	4,173	5,233	6,672
	Fine Gael	Patrick O'Reilly[*]	13.4	3,459	4,114	6,047	6,323	6,369
	Fianna Fáil	Séamus Dolan	12.5	3,231	3,428	3,770
	Fine Gael	David Coleman	9.8	2,828	3,162
	Aontacht Éireann	James Kelly	8.0	2,068
Electorate: 37,299   Valid: 28,687   Quota: 7,172   Turnout: 76.9%

1969 general election

1969 general election: Cavan^[29][32]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Fine Gael	Thomas J. Fitzpatrick[*]	23.8	7,092	7,329	8,631
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick Smith[*]	21.4	6,380	6,549	6,625	6,671	7,495
	Fianna Fáil	Séamus Dolan	11.9	3,563	3,734	3,778	3,791	4,986	5,902
	Fine Gael	Patrick O'Reilly	11.9	3,548	3,842	4,188	5,193	5,335	6,910
	Independent	John Tully[*]	10.4	3,123	3,581	3,647	3,702	3,950
	Fianna Fáil	Richard Black	7.4	2,212	2,329	2,683	2,729
	Fine Gael	Thomas Anderson	7.3	2,194	2,266
	Labour	James Caffrey	4.2	1,255
	Labour	Thomas O'Connor	1.7	495
Electorate: 37,331   Valid: 29,862   Quota: 7,466   Turnout: 80.0%

1965 general election

1965 general election: Cavan^[28][33]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick Smith[*]	24.7	6,758	6,875
	Fine Gael	Thomas J. Fitzpatrick	19.7	5,408	5,528	9,363
	Fianna Fáil	Séamus Dolan[*]	18.8	5,145	5,237	5,382	5,393	5,641
	Fine Gael	Patrick O'Reilly[*]	16.9	4,643	4,735
	Clann na Poblachta	John Tully	16.3	4,476	5,006	5,550	5,561	7,823
	Labour	John O'Rourke	3.6	981
Electorate: 34,709   Valid: 27,411   Quota: 6,853   Turnout: 79.0%

1961 general election

1961 general election: Cavan^[27][33]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick Smith[*]	32.5	9,032
	Fine Gael	Patrick O'Reilly[*]	19.5	5,431	5,619	6,969
	Clann na Poblachta	John Tully[*]	16.8	4,683	4,937	5,125	6,482
	Fianna Fáil	Séamus Dolan	16.7	4,658	6,166	6,294	6,743
	Sinn Féin	Patrick Duffy	7.7	2,153	2,219	2,405
	Fine Gael	John McGovern	6.7	1,862	1,923
Electorate: 35,933   Valid: 27,819   Quota: 6,955   Turnout: 77.4%

1957 general election

1957 general election: Cavan^[26][33]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick Smith[*]	23.9	7,309
	Fine Gael	Patrick O'Reilly[*]	15.4	4,704	4,751	5,860	5,965	6,416
	Clann na Poblachta	John Tully[*]	14.2	4,327	4,414	4,524	4,694	6,397
	Independent	John James Cole	13.6	4,161	4,184	4,217	4,267	4,366
	Sinn Féin	Pádraig Ó Dubhthaigh	10.8	3,308	3,345	3,494	3,742
	Fianna Fáil	Séamus Dolan	8.6	2,626	2,794	2,853
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Sheridan[*]	8.5	2,610	3,428	3,491	5,703	6,642
	Fine Gael	John McGovern	5.0	1,533	1,546
Electorate: 39,142   Valid: 30,578   Quota: 6,116   Turnout: 78.1%

1954 general election

1954 general election: Cavan^[25][33]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick Smith[*]	22.8	7,570
	Clann na Poblachta	John Tully[*]	17.8	5,898	5,965	6,212	6,407	7,657
	Independent	John James Cole	14.2	4,704	4,724	4,748	4,798	5,251	5,591
	Fine Gael	Patrick O'Reilly[*]	12.9	4,280	4,310	5,107	5,171	6,408	6,823
	Independent	Patrick O'Reilly	10.8	3,597	3,635	3,930	4,154
	Fianna Fáil	Séamus Dolan	8.4	2,773	2,893	2,992
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Sheridan[*]	8.3	2,759	3,410	3,522	5,906	6,860
	Fine Gael	John McGovern	4.8	1,596	1,604
Electorate: 40,301   Valid: 33,177   Quota: 6,636   Turnout: 82.3%

1951 general election

1951 general election: Cavan^[33]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick Smith[*]	23.9	8,172
	Clann na Poblachta	John Tully[*]	18.7	6,413	6,486	6,761	7,791
	Independent	Jack Cole	14.5	4,981	5,002	5,060	5,401	5,641
	Fine Gael	Patrick O'Reilly	14.3	4,911	4,953	5,099	6,371	6,747
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Sheridan[*]	10.4	3,564	4,493	6,667	7,538
	Independent	Patrick O'Reilly[*]	10.0	3,438	3,486	3,744
	Fianna Fáil	Gerald M. Lovett	6.7	2,287	2,477
	Independent	Eric D. O'Gowan	1.4	495	511
Electorate: 42,098   Valid: 34,261   Quota: 6,853   Turnout: 81.38%

1948 general election

1948 general election: Cavan^[33]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick Smith[*]	32.2	11,168
	Independent	Patrick O'Reilly	14.8	5,139	5,500	5,557	5,760	6,104	7,347
	Independent	John James Cole	14.4	4,982	5,101	5,185	5,222	5,289	5,464	5,656
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Sheridan[*]	9.3	3,221	6,176	6,455	8,010
	Clann na Poblachta	John Tully	8.6	2,970	3,088	3,559	3,679	3,811	4,181	6,670
	Clann na Poblachta	Peter A. Donohoe	6.5	2,253	2,370	2,496	2,605	2,679	3,220
	Fine Gael	Tom O'Reilly[*]	6.0	2,081	2,220	2,307	2,401	2,558
	Fianna Fáil	Francis Dolphin	5.2	1,794	2,098	2,179
	Labour	Edward Thornton	3.2	1,119	1,228
Electorate: 44,068   Valid: 34,727   Quota: 6,946   Turnout: 78.80%

1944 general election

1944 general election: Cavan^[22][34]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick Smith[*]	31.7	10,609
	Clann na Talmhan	Patrick O'Reilly[*]	17.3	5,794	6,101	6,589	6,750
	Independent	John James Cole[*]	16.9	5,634	5,721	5,794	5,821
	Independent	Tom O'Reilly	15.0	5,000	5,428	6,134	6,418
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Sheridan[*]	12.8	4,286	7,156
	Fianna Fáil	Bernard Fay	6.3	2,095	2,328
Electorate: 46,501   Valid: 33,418   Quota: 6,684   Turnout: 71.7%

1943 general election

1943 general election: Cavan^[21][34]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick Smith[*]	25.9	9,279
	Clann na Talmhan	Patrick O'Reilly	15.0	5,397	5,597	5,641	5,829	6,309	6,651	7,088	7,740
	Independent	John James Cole[*]	14.8	5,307	5,363	5,402	5,656	5,780	5,918	6,165	6,423	7,005
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Sheridan[*]	8.4	3,023	4,420	4,475	4,551	4,970	5,879	6,012	6,507	6,988
	Independent	James Keogan	5.5	1,968	2,020	2,077	2,116	2,241	2,334	2,412
	Fine Gael	Patrick McGovern[*]	5.5	1,962	1,995	2,056	2,566	2,691	2,874	3,540	3,717	4,160
	Independent	Hugh O'Donoghue	4.7	1,671	1,751	1,787	1,832
	Fianna Fáil	James O'Reilly	4.6	1,664	1,762	1,815	1,885	1,992
	Labour	Michael Keating	4.4	1,570	1,603	2,181	2,252	2,436	2,492	2,747	3,025
	Fine Gael	Patrick Farrell	4.3	1,550	1,646	1,667	1,946	2,035	2,135
	Fine Gael	Patrick Baxter	4.2	1,504	1,531	1,579
	Labour	Michael Magee	2.8	988	1,018
Electorate: 46,501   Valid: 35,883   Quota: 7,177   Turnout: 77.2%

1938 general election

1938 general election: Cavan^[20][34]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick Smith[*]	25.5	9,129
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Sheridan[*]	22.5	8,049
	Independent	John James Cole[*]	17.8	6,375	6,771	6,949	7,949
	Fine Gael	Patrick McGovern[*]	17.5	6,261	6,951	7,254
	Labour	Michael Keating	8.6	3,096	3,815	4,153	5,146
	Fine Gael	John McGorry	8.2	2,941	3,094	3,153
Electorate: 46,519   Valid: 35,851   Quota: 7,171   Turnout: 77.1%

1937 general election

1937 general election: Cavan^[19][34]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick Smith[*]	23.1	8,446
	Independent	John James Cole	17.6	6,458	6,469	6,559	6,790	6,871	6,959
	Fine Gael	Patrick McGovern[*]	16.0	5,868	5,884	6,062	6,921	7,176	7,410
	Fine Gael	John Joe O'Reilly[*]	12.4	4,530	4,554	4,846	5,290	5,412	5,618
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Sheridan[*]	10.8	3,943	4,838	5,797	5,996	9,122
	Fianna Fáil	Bernard Fay	9.4	3,439	3,510	3,688	3,839
	Independent	Patrick Farrell	5.5	2,009	2,039	2,160
	Independent	James Smith	5.3	1,946	2,017
Electorate: 47,008   Valid: 36,639   Quota: 7,328   Turnout: 77.9%

1933 general election

1933 general election: Cavan^[18][34]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick Smith[*]	24.5	9,446
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Sheridan[*]	22.7	8,740
	Independent	John James Cole	17.3	6,675	6,771	6,814	6,897	7,051
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John Joe O'Reilly[*]	12.9	4,966	5,448	5,672	6,674	7,806
	National Centre Party	John O'Hanlon[*]	11.8	4,560	4,982	5,282
	National Centre Party	Patrick McGovern	10.7	4,103	4,850	5,324	8,985
Electorate: 47,304   Valid: 38,490   Quota: 7,699   Turnout: 81.4%

1932 general election

1932 general election: Cavan^[17][34]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Sheridan	22.5	8,183
	Independent	John O'Hanlon[*]	20.0	7,281	7,303
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick Smith[*]	19.6	7,154	8,012
	Independent	John James Cole[*]	16.7	6,083	6,085	6,375	6,398
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John Joe O'Reilly[*]	13.8	5,023	5,034	7,048	7,159
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Patrick Baxter	7.4	2,697	2,702
Electorate: 47,302   Valid: 36,421   Quota: 7,285   Turnout: 77.0%

September 1927 general election

September 1927 general election: Cavan^[16][34]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John Joe O'Reilly[*]	19.1	6,652	7,858
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick Smith[*]	18.7	6,496	6,732	6,985
	Independent	John O'Hanlon[*]	17.7	6,154	8,338
	Independent	John James Cole	17.6	6,136	6,433	6,631	6,795
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Sheridan	14.0	4,862	5,225	5,767	6,067
	Farmers' Party	Patrick Baxter[*]	12.9	4,484
Electorate: 54,955   Valid: 34,784   Quota: 6,957   Turnout: 63.3%

June 1927 general election

June 1927 general election: Cavan^[15][34]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Independent	John O'Hanlon	32.7	11,152
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John Joe O'Reilly[*]	16.7	5,690	6,947
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick Smith[*]	15.8	5,396	5,876	5,946	5,961	8,955
	Independent	John James Cole[*]	15.1	5,158	5,336	5,376	5,390	5,408	5,470
	Farmers' Party	Patrick Baxter[*]	9.7	3,313	5,081	5,311	5,373	5,488	6,179
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Sheridan	8.3	2,830	3,260	3,375	3,400
	Independent	Seán Milroy	1.8	614	822
Electorate: 54,955   Valid: 34,153   Quota: 6,831   Turnout: 62.2%

1925 by-election

National Party TD Seán Milroy (elected in 1923 for Cumann na nGaedheal) resigned on 30 October 1925.^[35] A writ of election to fill the vacancy was moved on 18 February 1925.^[36] A by-election was held on 11 March 1925.^[37]

1925 by-election: Cavan^[14][34]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John Joe O'Reilly	38.5	12,560	12,980
	Farmers' Party	John O'Hanlon	31.5	10,285	12,119
	Republican	Philip Baxter	30.0	9,774
Electorate: 54,419   Valid: 32,619   Quota: 16,310   Turnout: 59.9%

1923 general election

1923 general election: Cavan^[13][34]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Farmers' Party	Patrick Baxter	18.8	6,264	6,488	6,928
	Republican	Patrick Smith	18.4	6,112	6,155	6,213	6,283	6,358	6,429	6,519
	Independent	John James Cole	16.5	5,476	5,483	5,508	5,528	5,609	5,691	5,798
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Seán Milroy[*]	15.4	5,109	5,134	5,205	5,251	5,578	6,680
	Labour	Patrick Sheridan	11.3	3,749	3,779	3,847	3,873	3,930	4,195	4,628
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Walter L. Cole[*]	7.4	2,448	2,463	2,491	2,515	2,606	3,093
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Thomas McKenna	6.0	2,010	2,133	2,166	2,215	2,323
	Independent	Patrick McQuaid	2.4	810	838	861	870
	Farmers' Party	Henry O'Reilly	2.2	728	774
	Farmers' Party	Patrick Farrelly	1.7	559
Electorate: 55,104   Valid: 33,265   Quota: 6,654   Turnout: 60.4%

1922 general election

1922 general election: Cavan^[12][34]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty)	Arthur Griffith[*]	54.4	13,101
	Farmers' Party	Patrick Baxter	23.3	5,620	5,994	6,015
	Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty)	Walter L. Cole	20.0	4,807	6,490
	Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty)	Seán Milroy[*]	2.3	565	5,585	6,030
Electorate: 44,022   Valid: 24,093   Quota: 6,024   Turnout: 54.7%

1921 general election

1921 general election: Cavan^[11]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	%	Seat	Count
	Sinn Féin	Paul Galligan[*]	Unopposed	N/A	1
	Sinn Féin	Arthur Griffith[*]	Unopposed	N/A	2
	Sinn Féin	Seán Milroy	Unopposed	N/A	3