Elections in the Republic of Ireland

In Ireland, direct elections by universal suffrage are used for the President, the ceremonial head of state; for Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas or parliament; for the European Parliament; and for local government. All elections use proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV) in constituencies returning three or more members, except that the presidential election and by-elections use the single-winner analogue of STV, elsewhere called instant-runoff voting or the alternative vote. Members of Seanad Éireann, the second house of the Oireachtas, are partly nominated, partly indirectly elected, and partly elected by graduates of particular universities.

Coalition governments have been the norm since 1989. Fine Gael (or its predecessor Cumann na nGaedheal) or Fianna Fáil have led every government since independence in 1922. The current government is a coalition of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party. Traditionally, the Labour Party was the third party, although since 2016 it has been surpassed by Sinn Féin, and since 2020 by the Green Party. Smaller parties and independents exist in the Dáil and more so in local government.

Since 2023, electoral operations and oversight of electoral integrity have been carried out by an independent Electoral Commission.

Eligibility to vote

See also: History of the franchise in Ireland

Entitlement to vote is based on citizenship. Residents of the state who are Irish citizens or British citizens may vote in elections to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (parliament). Residents who are citizens of any EU state may vote in European Parliament elections, while any resident, regardless of citizenship, may vote in local elections.^[1]

The right of Irish expatriates to vote is heavily restricted. Only members of the armed forces and diplomatic staff abroad may vote in Dáil elections, while only expatriates who are graduates of the National University of Ireland or Trinity College Dublin may vote in Seanad elections to the university constituencies.

Rights of residents to vote at Irish elections

Citizenship	Local elections	European elections	Dáil Elections	Presidential elections	Referendums
Ireland	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
United Kingdom	Y	N[a]	Y	N	N
EU	Y	Y	N	N	N
Other non-EU	Y	N	N	N	N

1. British citizens lost the right to vote in European elections after Brexit.

Early voting

Military personnel, whether serving at home or abroad, vote by postal ballot. These votes are delivered by a courier service, usually a commercial one, but a military courier is used for ballots cast by Irish troops in Lebanon and Syria.^[2] Voters living on islands off the west coast in counties Galway, Mayo, and Donegal traditionally voted two or three days before polling day, but in 2014 the gap was narrowed, when they voted just one day beforehand.^[3] Following an amendment to electoral law in 2022, early voting on the islands is allowed only in exceptional circumstances.^[4]

General elections

See also: Dáil election results

Under the Constitution, the term of a Dáil is a maximum of seven years; statute law, currently the Electoral Act 1992, establishes a lower maximum of five years.^[5] The Taoiseach may advise the president to dissolve at any time. If a Taoiseach has ceased to retain the support of the majority of the Dáil, the president may in their absolute discretion refuse to dissolve the Dáil. To date, no president has refused to dissolve the Dáil.

Electoral law provides that the "same Dáil shall not continue for a longer period than five years from the date of its first meeting".^[6] When the Dáil is dissolved, the Clerk of the Dáil must issue a writ of election to the returning officer for each constituency.^[7] The election must take place on a date set by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage 18 to 25 days (disregarding any excluded day) after the writs have been issued.^[8][9][10]

Elections are by single transferable vote (STV), with each constituency returning between three and five deputies, each called a Teachta Dála or TD. From 1980, constituencies have been redrawn by an independent Constituency Commission after each census, which was put on a statutory basis in 1997. From 2023, these functions have been carried out by the Electoral Commission.

The erection and removal of campaign posters by candidates is governed by the Litter Pollution Act 1997 and the Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2009.^[11] Posters may only be erected for a certain specified time period before an election. This time period is either (a) 30 days before the poll date or (b) from the date the polling day order for the election has been made, whichever provides the shorter period of time. Posters must be removed within seven days of polling day.

General elections to Dáil Éireann and resulting Irish governments

Polling		Date of nominations	Dáil			Government
Date	Day		No.	Term[12]	Days	No.[a]	Head[b]	Party or parties
14 December 1918 [c][d]	Sat	4 Dec	1st	21 January 1919 – 10 May 1921[e]	841	1st DM/ 2nd DM[f]	Cathal Brugha/ Éamon de Valera[f]	Sinn Féin
24 May 1921	Tue	13 May[g]	2nd	16 August 1921 – 8 June 1922[h]	394	3rd DM	Éamon de Valera	Sinn Féin
						4th DM[i]	Arthur Griffith	Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty)
16 Jun 1922 [j]	Fri	6 Jun[k]	3rd	9 September 1922[l] – 9 August 1923	335	2nd PG/[m] 1st EC[n]	W. T. Cosgrave[m]	Cumann na nGaedheal[o]
27 Aug 1923	Mon	18 Aug	4th	19 September 1923 – 23 May 1927	1343	2nd EC		Cumann na nGaedheal
9 Jun 1927	Thu	1 June	5th	23 June 1927 – 25 August 1927	64	3rd EC		Cumann na nGaedheal
15 Sep 1927	Thu	3 Sep	6th	11 October 1927 – 29 January 1932	1572	4th EC / 5th EC[p]		Cumann na nGaedheal[q]
16 Feb 1932	Tue	8 Feb	7th	9 March 1932 – 2 January 1933	300	6th EC	Éamon de Valera	Fianna Fáil
24 Jan 1933	Tue		8th	11 January 1933 – 14 June 1937	1616	7th EC		Fianna Fáil
1 Jul 1937	Thu		9th	21 July 1937 – 27 May 1938	311	8th EC / 1st GI[r]		Fianna Fáil
17 Jun 1938	Fri	7 June	10th	30 June 1938 – 26 June 1943[13][s]	1823	2nd GI		Fianna Fáil
23 Jun 1943	Wed	9 June	11th	1 July 1943 – 7 June 1944[15]	343	3rd GI		Fianna Fáil
30 May 1944	Tue	19 May	12th	9 June 1944 – 12 January 1948	1313	4th GI		Fianna Fáil
4 Feb 1948	Wed		13th	18 February 1948 – 7 May 1951	1175	5th GI	John A. Costello	Fine Gael   Labour Party   Clann na Poblachta   Clann na Talmhan   National Labour[t]   Independent
30 May 1951	Wed	17 May	14th	13 June 1951 – 24 April 1954	1047	6th GI	Éamon de Valera	Fianna Fáil
18 May 1954	Tue	4 May	15th	2 June 1954 – 12 February 1957	987	7th GI	John A. Costello	Fine Gael   Labour Party   Clann na Talmhan
5 Mar 1957	Tue	21 Feb	16th	20 March 1957 – 15 September 1961	1641	8th/ 9th GI[u]	Éamon de Valera/ Seán Lemass[u]	Fianna Fáil
4 Oct 1961	Wed		17th	11 October 1961 – 18 March 1965	1255	10th GI	Seán Lemass	Fianna Fáil
7 Apr 1965	Wed		18th	21 April 1965 – 22 May 1969	1493	11th/ 12th GI[v]	Seán Lemass/ Jack Lynch[v]	Fianna Fáil
18 Jun 1969	Wed		19th	2 July 1969 – 5 February 1973	1315	13th GI	Jack Lynch	Fianna Fáil
28 Feb 1973	Wed		20th	14 March 1973 – 25 May 1977	1534	14th GI	Liam Cosgrave	Fine Gael   Labour Party
16 Jun 1977	Thu		21st	5 July 1977 – 21 May 1981	1417	15th/ 16th GI[w]	Jack Lynch/ Charles Haughey[w]	Fianna Fáil
11 Jun 1981	Thu		22nd	30 June 1981 – 27 January 1982	212	17th GI	Garret FitzGerald	Fine Gael   Labour Party
18 Feb 1982	Thu		23rd	9 March 1982 – 4 November 1982	241	18th GI	Charles Haughey	Fianna Fáil
24 Nov 1982	Wed		24th	14 December 1982 – 21 January 1987	1500	19th GI	Garret FitzGerald	Fine Gael   Labour Party[x]
17 Feb 1987	Tue		25th	10 March 1987 – 25 May 1989	808	20th GI	Charles Haughey	Fianna Fáil
15 Jun 1989	Thu		26th	29 June 1989 – 5 November 1992	1226	21st/ 22nd GI[y]	Charles Haughey/ Albert Reynolds[y]	Fianna Fáil   Progressive Democrats[z]
25 Nov 1992	Wed		27th	14 December 1992 – 15 May 1997	1614	23rd GI	Albert Reynolds	Fianna Fáil   Labour Party[aa]
						24th GI[ab]	John Bruton	Fine Gael   Labour Party   Democratic Left
6 Jun 1997	Fri	26 May	28th	26 June 1997 – 25 April 2002	1765	25th GI	Bertie Ahern	Fianna Fáil   Progressive Democrats
17 May 2002	Fri	3 May	29th	6 June 2002 – 29 April 2007	1789	26th GI		Fianna Fáil   Progressive Democrats
24 May 2007	Thu	9 May	30th	14 June 2007 – 1 February 2011	1329	27th/ 28th GI[ac]	Bertie Ahern/ Brian Cowen[ac]	Fianna Fáil   Green Party[ad]   Progressive Democrats[ae]
25 Feb 2011	Fri	9 Feb	31st	9 March 2011 – 3 February 2016	1793	29th GI	Enda Kenny	Fine Gael   Labour Party
26 Feb 2016	Fri	11 Feb	32nd	10 March 2016 – 14 January 2020	1406	30th/ 31st GI[af]	Enda Kenny/ Leo Varadkar[af]	Fine Gael   Independent
8 Feb 2020	Sat	22 Jan	33rd	20 February 2020 to 8 November 2024	1724	32nd/33rd GI/34th GI[ag]	Micheál Martin/ Leo Varadkar/ Simon Harris[ag]	Fianna Fáil   Fine Gael   Green Party
29 Nov 2024	Fri	18 Nov	34th	18 December 2024	129	35th GI	Micheál Martin	Fianna Fáil   Fine Gael[ah]

Footnotes

1. See table for the government title corresponding to each abbreviation.
2. See table for the title of the head of government.
3. Territorial constituencies only; in those the results were declared on 28 December, to allow time for votes by members of the British Armed Forces to be sent to the returning officers. The university constituencies voted as follows: Dublin University polling 16–20 December, declaration 21 December; National University polling 18–22 December, declaration 23 December and Queen's University of Belfast polling 16–20 December, declaration 20 December,
4. The 30th Parliament of the United Kingdom, convened after the December 1910 election, was dissolved on 25 November 1918.
5. Last meeting of the First Dáil. A resolution passed at that meeting provided for the First Dáil to be dissolved on the assembling of the Second Dáil.
6. De Valera (2nd) replaced Brugha (1st) on 1 April 1919.
7. Except National University of Ireland, where nominations closed on 14 May 1921
8. Last meeting of the Second Dáil. A meeting scheduled for 30 Jun 1922 was preempted by the outbreak of the Civil War. The Second Dáil was never formally dissolved and Irish republican legitimists have regarded it as de jure continuing while the Third Dáil was illegitimate.
9. De Valera resigned on 7 January 1922 after losing the Anglo-Irish Treaty Dáil vote. Griffith's pro-Treaty ministry was formed on 10 January.
10. The polling days for National University of Ireland were 12–15 June 1922, with the declaration being made on 16 June 1922.
11. Except Dublin University, where nominations closed on 8 Jun 1922.
12. Originally to have been 1 July 1922. The Dáil was prorogued on five occasions and eventually met on 9 Sep 1922.
13. The 1st Provisional Government with Michael Collins as chairman was formed on 14 January 1922, without reference to the then Second Dáil. Collins was killed on 22 August 1922 and Cosgrave's Provisional Government formed on 30 August, after the June election to the Third Dáil but before its first meeting in September.
14. On 6 December 1922, the Free State constitution came into force. The provisional government ceased to exit and the first Executive Council was appointed.
15. Cumann na nGaedheal was founded in early 1923, before which Cosgrave's pro-Treaty government was not affiliated to any party, Sinn Féin having ceased to function.
16. On 27 March 1930, the Executive Council resigned. On 2 April, Cosgrave was appointed again as President of the Executive Council and appointed a new Executive Council with the same membership.
17. A Farmers' Party TD was a parliamentary secretary.
18. The Constitution of Ireland came into force on 29 December 1937, with the former Free State's final executive council and president becoming the first government of Ireland and Taoiseach.
19. Exceptionally, because of the state of emergency arising from the Second World War, the 10th Dáil was not dissolved until after all the returns to the Clerk of the Dáil from all constituencies of the election.^[14]
20. National Labour merged back into the Labour Party in 1950.
21. De Valera's 8th government was succeeded by Lemass's 9th in 1959.
22. Lemass's 11th government was succeeded by Lynch's 12th in 1966.
23. In 1979 Haughey (16th) succeeded Lynch (15th)
24. Labour Party left government on 20 January 1987.
25. On 11 February 1992 Reynolds (22nd) succeeded Haughey (21st)
26. Progressive Democrats left government on 4 November 1992.
27. Labour Party left government on 15 November 1994.
28. On 15 December 1994 the 24th government replaced the 23rd. This has been the only occasion on which there was a change in the government parties without a general election.
29. On 7 May 2008 Cowen (28th) replaced Ahern (27th)
30. Green Party left government on 23 January 2011.
31. The Progressive Democrats were dissolved in 2009 and their ministers and other TDs sat as independents thereafter.
32. On 14 Jun 2017 Varadkar (31st) succeeded Kenny (30th).
33. On 17 December 2022 Varadkar (32nd) succeeded Martin (33rd). On 9 April 2024, Harris (34th) succeeded Varadkar
34. Five Independent are ministers of state.

Titles of the government and its head

Dates	Abbr	Title of government	Head of government
1919–22	DM	Dáil Ministry	President of Dáil Éireann
1922	PG	Provisional Government	Chairman of the Provisional Government
1922–37	EC	Executive Council of the Irish Free State	President of the Executive Council
1937–	GI	Government of Ireland	Taoiseach

Seanad elections

Elections to Seanad Éireann take place after the general election to the Dáil. There are sixty members of the Seanad. Of these, eleven are nominated by the Taoiseach appointed next after the dissolution of the Dáil. Six are elected by STV in university constituencies: three for the National University (by graduates) and three for Dublin University (by graduates and scholars of Trinity College Dublin).^[16][17] Forty-three are elected by an electorate of serving politicians (members of the incoming Dáil, the outgoing Seanad, and city and county councillors)^[18] for five vocational panels. These elections are also counted using STV, although using a different set of rules on the distribution of surpluses and the order of counts than in other elections in Ireland.^[19]

European elections

Elections to the European Parliament are held simultaneously across Europe every five years. In Ireland, as for Dáil elections, STV is used in constituencies returning three to five members.^[20] Ireland has 14 seats in the European Parliament.

Local elections

Elections to county councils, city councils and city and county councils are held every five years and by convention take place on the same day as European elections. Local electoral areas (LEAs) return between three and seven councillors by STV.^[21] Until the Local Government Reform Act 2014, elections were also held for borough and town councils. The 2014 Act abolished borough and town councils with their functions transferred to municipal districts of the county councils, comprising the county councillors from the LEA coterminous with the district.

Some members of Údarás na Gaeltachta were directly elected by Gaeltacht residents between 1980 and 2012; since then all have been appointed by the government.^[22][23]

Presidential elections

Main article: Irish presidential election

The President of Ireland is formally elected by the citizens of Ireland once in every seven years, except in the event of premature vacancy, when an election must be held within sixty days. The President is directly elected by secret ballot under the system of the instant-runoff voting (although the Constitution describes it as "the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote"). While both Irish and British citizens resident in the state may vote in Dáil elections, only Irish citizens, who must be at least 18 years of age, may vote in the election of the President. The presidency is open to all citizens of the state who are at least 35. A candidate must be nominated by one of the following:

• Twenty members of the Oireachtas (Dáil or Seanad).
• Four local authorities.
• Themselves (in the case of an incumbent or former president who has served only one term).

Where only one candidate is nominated, that candidate is declared elected without a ballot. No one may serve as President for more than two terms.

Referendums

The Constitution of Ireland was approved by plebiscite on 1 July 1937. The Constitution recognises two types of referendums:

• On a proposed amendment to the Constitution, for which a referendum is always required, and the amendment is passed by a majority of those voting;
• An ordinary referendum, on a bill other than an amendment to the Constitution, for which a referendum is only required on petition of Oireachtas members, and the bill is passed by a majority of those eligible to vote.

There have been 38 referendums for amendments to the Constitution of Ireland. There have been no ordinary referendums. Since 2023, the Electoral Commission provides neutral information to the public on each amendment. An organisation can register with the commission as an "approved body" in order to campaign publicly for or against the proposal, and to have monitors in polling stations and counting agents at count centres. From 1998 to 2019, this function was carried out by a Referendum Commission established for each referendum.

For a proposal to change the name of a place, a plebiscite is required.^[24] The current 1956 Regulations on conducting such plebiscites relate to a postal vote of ratepayers;^[25] in 2019 the relevant electorate was changed from ratepayers to local electors,^[24] but as of 16 January 2020^[update] the regulations have not been updated accordingly.^[24][26] In a County Cork town, Charleville was chosen in a 1989 four-option plebiscite ahead of Ráth Luirc, An Rath, and Rathgoggan.^[27][28] The Official Languages Act 2003 prevented the plebiscite provision applying to places in the Gaeltacht, and so a 2005 plebiscite to change the name of Dingle, County Kerry was ruled invalid; in 2011, the 2003 Act was amended to remove the restriction.^[29]

Other local plebiscites include three in 2019 on whether to establish directly-elected mayors for Cork City Council, Limerick City and County Council and Waterford City and County Council, of which only that for Limerick was passed.

See also

• Voting system
• Dáil vote for Taoiseach
• Politics of the Republic of Ireland
• Elections in Northern Ireland