Kerry (Dáil constituency)

Kerry is a parliamentary constituency that has been represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas, since the 2016 general election. The constituency elects five deputies (Teachtaí Dála, commonly known as TDs) on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV). Another constituency of the same name existed between 1923 and 1937.

Kerry
Dáil constituency
Location of Kerry within Ireland
Interactive map of constituency boundaries since the 2024 general election
Major settlements	Dingle Killarney Kenmare Listowel Tarbert Tralee
Current constituency
Created	2016
Seats	5
TDs	Michael Cahill (FF)   Pa Daly (SF)   Norma Foley (FF)   Danny Healy-Rae (Ind)   Michael Healy-Rae (Ind)
Local government area	County Kerry
Created from	Kerry North–West Limerick Kerry South
EP constituency	South

Kerry
Former Dáil constituency
Location of Kerry within Ireland
Former constituency
Created	1923
Abolished	1937
Seats	7
Local government area	County Kerry
Created from	Kerry–Limerick West
Replaced by	Kerry North Kerry South

History and boundaries

1923–1937

The constituency was created under the Electoral Act 1923, and first used at the 1923 general election to elect the 4th Dáil. It replaced the Kerry–Limerick West constituency which was used to elect the 2nd Dáil and the 3rd Dáil. It consisted of the administrative county of Kerry.^[1] The constituency elected 7 deputies.

It was abolished by the Electoral (Revision of Constituencies) Act 1935 and the new Kerry South and Kerry North constituencies were created. They were first used at the 1937 general election for the 9th Dáil.

Since 2016

The Constituency Commission proposed in its 2012 report that at the next general election a new constituency called Kerry be created.^[2] The report proposed changes to the constituencies of Ireland so as to reduce the total number of TDs from 166 to 158.^[3]

It was established by the Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Act 2013.^[4] The new constituency replaces the constituencies of Kerry North–West Limerick and Kerry South. It comprises the whole of County Kerry with the Limerick part of the Kerry North–West Limerick transferred to Limerick County.

The 2013 Act defines the constituency as:^[4]

"The county of Kerry."

The Constituency Review Report 2023 of the Electoral Commission recommended that no change be made at the next general election.^[5]

TDs

TDs 1923–1937

Teachtaí Dála (TDs) for Kerry 1923–1937[6]
Key to parties   CnaG = Cumann na nGaedheal   FF = Fianna Fáil   Rep = Republican
Dáil	Election	Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)
4th	1923[7]		Tom McEllistrim (Rep)		Austin Stack (Rep)		Patrick Cahill (Rep)		Thomas O'Donoghue (Rep)		James Crowley (CnaG)		Fionán Lynch (CnaG)		John O'Sullivan (CnaG)
5th	1927 (Jun)[8]		Tom McEllistrim (FF)		Austin Stack (SF)		William O'Leary (FF)		Thomas O'Reilly (FF)
6th	1927 (Sep)[9]				Frederick Crowley (FF)
7th	1932[10]						John Flynn (FF)				Eamon Kissane (FF)
8th	1933[11]								Denis Daly (FF)
9th	1937	Constituency abolished. See Kerry North and Kerry South

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.

TDs since 2016

Teachtaí Dála (TDs) for Kerry 2016–
Key to parties   FF = Fianna Fáil   FG = Fine Gael   Ind = Independent   SF = Sinn Féin
Dáil	Election	Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)
32nd	2016[12]		Martin Ferris (SF)		Michael Healy-Rae (Ind)		Danny Healy-Rae (Ind)		John Brassil (FF)		Brendan Griffin (FG)
33rd	2020[13]		Pa Daly (SF)						Norma Foley (FF)
34th	2024[14]										Michael Cahill (FF)

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

2024 general election

2024 general election: Kerry^[14][15]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
	Independent	Michael Healy-Rae[*]	23.7	18,596
	Sinn Féin	Pa Daly[*]	14.8	11,647	12,272	12,298	12,382	12,675	12,802	13,751
	Fianna Fáil	Norma Foley[*]	13.1	10,302	11,099	11,143	11,165	11,201	11,446	11,471	11,488	11,600	12,155	12,524	12,783	13,654
	Independent	Danny Healy-Rae[*]	11.0	8,603	11,236	11,294	11,387	11,420	11,633	11,708	11,894	12,486	12,978	13,239
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Cahill	10.5	8,266	8,747	8,765	8,820	8,830	8,931	9,008	9,069	9,181	9,820	10,047	10,433	10,932
	Fine Gael	Billy O'Shea	10.1	7,932	8,261	8,273	8,292	8,312	8,400	8,420	8,437	8,506	8,737	9,137	9,366	10,175
	Fianna Fáil	Linda Gordon Kelleher	2.6	2,024	2,116	2,127	2,130	2,140	2,167	2,183	2,197	2,230
	Green	Cleo Murphy	2.5	1,982	2,027	2,041	2,047	2,247	2,266	2,306	2,417	2,437	2,496	3,185	3,439
	Labour	Mike Kennedy	2.3	1,826	1,950	1,958	1,979	2,145	2,190	2,223	2,345	2,389	2,438
	Independent	Michelle Keane	2.0	1,530	1,614	1,674	1,903	1,923	2,016	2,030	2,081
	Aontú	Catherina O'Sullivan	1.8	1,437	1,502	1,648	1,789	1,846	1,952	2,020	2,109	2,724	2,785	2,897
	Sinn Féin	Stephanie O'Shea	1.4	1,114	1,173	1,184	1,192	1,365	1,384
	PBP–Solidarity	Cian Prendiville[a]	1.3	1,012	1,046	1,066	1,089
	Independent Ireland	Tom McEllistrim	1.3	983	1,064	1,099	1,163	1,181
	Irish Freedom	Brandon Begley	0.9	738	762	816
	Independent	Mary Fitzgibbon	0.6	469	502
	Independent	John O'Leary	0.1	34	41
Electorate: 120,868   Valid: 78,495   Spoilt: 504   Quota: 13,083   Turnout: 65.4%

1. Prendiville is a member of People Before Profit.

2020 general election

2020 general election: Kerry^{[16][17][18][19][13]}

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Independent	Michael Healy-Rae[*]	21.6	16,818
	Sinn Féin	Pa Daly	20.3	15,733
	Fine Gael	Brendan Griffin[*]	13.3	10,296	10,838	11,073	11,261	12,255	14,703
	Independent	Danny Healy-Rae[*]	11.2	8,663	10,604	11,333	12,090	12,664	13,000
	Fianna Fáil	Norma Foley	8.8	6,856	7,271	7,647	7,934	9,111	9,593	10,128	11,989
	Fianna Fáil	John Brassil[*]	7.0	5,431	5,665	5,844	6,089	6,748	7,230	7,682	8,655
	Green	Cleo Murphy	5.3	4,122	4,273	4,808	5,263	5,604	5,811	6,229
	Fine Gael	Mike Kennelly	5.1	3,974	4,153	4,278	4,379	4,419
	Fianna Fáil	Norma Moriarty	4.9	3,767	4,049	4,145	4,217
	Aontú	Sonny Foran	1.4	1,109	1,180	1,404
	Irish Freedom	John Bowler	0.6	473	501	640
	Independent	Ted Cronin	0.5	391	417	544
	Independent	Sean O'Leary	0.1	33	37	60
Electorate: 116,885   Valid: 77,666   Spoilt: 543 (0.7%)   Quota: 12,945   Turnout: 66.9%

2016 general election

2016 general election: Kerry^[20][21][12]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	Independent	Michael Healy-Rae[*]	25.7	20,378
	Independent	Danny Healy-Rae	12.6	9,991	13,826
	Fine Gael	Brendan Griffin[*]	12.2	9,674	10,381	10,520	10,608	10,661	10,827	10,999	11,223	11,396	12,545	14,050
	Sinn Féin	Martin Ferris[*]	11.9	9,458	10,098	10,214	10,321	10,364	10,418	10,490	10,583	11,722	12,184	12,964
	Fianna Fáil	John Brassil	10.3	8,156	8,642	8,719	8,764	8,957	9,005	9,137	9,242	9,495	11,955	12,792
	Fine Gael	Jimmy Deenihan[*]	8.2	6,489	6,827	6,872	6,901	6,944	7,168	7,257	7,326	7,630	7,849	9,779
	Labour	Arthur Spring[*]	6.1	4,813	5,011	5,036	5,067	5,093	5,281	5,356	5,601	5,887	6,139
	Fianna Fáil	Norma Moriarty	5.5	4,348	4,893	5,012	5,032	5,081	5,114	5,172	5,252	5,392
	Independent	Michael O'Gorman	1.6	1,236	1,364	1,380	1,487	1,529	1,536	1,589	1,674
	Green	Michael Fitzgerald	1.3	1,011	1,050	1,059	1,085	1,123	1,135	1,222
	AAA–PBP	Brian Finucane	1.2	981	1,046	1,058	1,129	1,161	1,169	1,261	1,429
	Fine Gael	Grace O'Donnell	1.0	776	817	827	836	854
	Renua	Donal Corcoran	0.9	716	769	780	801	886	900
	Independent	Mary Fitzgibbon	0.8	635	690	707	752
	Independent	Kevin Murphy	0.6	464	491	505
	Independent	Henry Gaynor	0.2	147	155	158
Electorate: 112,751   Valid: 79,273   Spoilt: 476 (0.6%)   Quota: 13,213   Turnout: 79,749 (70.7%)

1933 general election

1933 general election: Kerry^[11][22]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Fianna Fáil	Eamon Kissane[*]	15.2	10,238
	Fianna Fáil	Tom McEllistrim[*]	14.4	9,694
	Fianna Fáil	John Flynn[*]	13.9	9,372
	Fianna Fáil	Denis Daly	12.3	8,290	9,558
	Fianna Fáil	Frederick Crowley[*]	11.9	8,039	8,439
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Fionán Lynch[*]	9.7	6,578	6,600	6,825	7,698	8,056	8,083
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John O'Sullivan[*]	9.3	6,259	6,265	6,510	7,415	7,746	7,749
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Con Brosnan	8.7	5,867	5,938	6,187	7,362	7,610	7,636
	National Centre Party	Edmond O'Connor	4.7	3,141	3,177	3,629
Electorate: 83,371   Valid: 67,478   Quota: 8,435   Turnout: 80.9%

1932 general election

1932 general election: Kerry^[10][22]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Fianna Fáil	John Flynn	12.7	7,638
	Fianna Fáil	Eamon Kissane	12.2	7,364	7,459	8,386
	Fianna Fáil	Frederick Crowley[*]	11.8	7,134	7,306	7,675
	Fianna Fáil	Tom McEllistrim[*]	11.5	6,930	7,062	7,733
	Fianna Fáil	Thomas O'Reilly[*]	11.1	6,691	6,923	7,273	7,635
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Fionán Lynch[*]	10.4	6,266	7,412	8,067
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John O'Sullivan[*]	9.4	5,686	6,340	7,146	7,181	7,480
	Cumann na nGaedheal	James Crowley[*]	7.7	4,644	5,200	6,072	6,265	6,490
	Farmers' Party	Patrick Trant	7.5	4,548	4,854
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John Moore	5.7	3,409
Electorate: 79,465   Valid: 60,310   Quota: 7,539   Turnout: 75.9%

September 1927 general election

September 1927 general election: Kerry^[9][22]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Fionán Lynch[*]	12.3	6,866	7,108
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John O'Sullivan[*]	11.3	6,296	6,373	7,958
	Fianna Fáil	Tom McEllistrim[*]	11.1	6,190	6,309	6,579	6,938	7,073
	Fianna Fáil	Thomas O'Reilly[*]	10.8	6,039	6,044	6,166	6,250	6,269	6,314
	Fianna Fáil	William O'Leary[*]	10.7	5,993	6,378	6,508	6,720	6,860	6,966
	Fianna Fáil	Frederick Crowley	10.3	5,762	5,784	6,040	6,189	6,221	6,401
	Cumann na nGaedheal	James Crowley[*]	10.1	5,651	5,841	6,114	8,754
	Fianna Fáil	Michael O'Donnell	9.0	5,027	5,066	5,157	5,341	5,422	5,477
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Thomas Slattery	6.2	3,473	3,639	4,052
	Farmers' Party	Patrick O'Shea	5.2	2,903	3,300
	Farmers' Party	Maurice Lawlor	3.0	1,691
Electorate: 78,540   Valid: 55,891   Quota: 6,987   Turnout: 71.2%

June 1927 general election

June 1927 general election: Kerry^[8][22]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Fionán Lynch[*]	10.2	5,483	5,512	5,576	5,605	5,638	5,682	5,704	6,181	6,765
	Sinn Féin	Austin Stack[*]	9.5	5,140	5,185	5,225	5,338	5,462	5,563	5,668	5,716	5,805	5,955	7,511
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John O'Sullivan[*]	8.5	4,569	4,577	4,607	4,677	4,708	4,754	4,897	5,210	5,498	6,563	6,669	6,682	7,161
	Fianna Fáil	Thomas O'Reilly	8.3	4,492	4,493	4,510	4,561	4,593	4,608	4,625	4,628	4,636	4,765	4,904	4,977	5,108	5,121	5,325
	Cumann na nGaedheal	James Crowley[*]	7.9	4,246	4,253	4,268	4,313	4,331	4,663	4,707	4,885	5,408	5,518	5,558	5,571	5,826	5,933	6,584
	Fianna Fáil	William O'Leary	7.1	3,849	3,864	3,897	3,919	4,002	4,113	4,172	4,188	4,591	4,654	5,250	5,531	5,884	5,902	6,251
	Fianna Fáil	Frederick Crowley[*]	6.3	3,370	3,381	3,392	3,554	3,575	3,630	3,659	3,690	3,736	3,945	4,035	4,111	4,403	4,418	4,935
	Fianna Fáil	Tom McEllistrim[*]	6.0	3,207	3,259	3,369	3,434	3,534	3,671	3,878	3,948	4,032	4,222	4,564	4,831	5,546	5,575	6,133
	Fianna Fáil	Michael O'Donnell	5.5	2,975	2,980	3,064	3,085	3,115	3,165	3,192	3,271	3,303	3,359
	Independent	Eugene O'Sullivan	4.5	2,405	2,414	2,451	2,565	2,589	2,675	2,751	2,830	2,926
	Farmers' Party	Patrick O'Shea	4.1	2,205	2,207	2,275	2,355	2,372	2,399	3,168	3,253	3,366	3,919	4,053	4,067	4,223	4,272
	Labour	Patrick Casey	4.0	2,141	2,266	2,283	2,401	2,876	2,919	2,969	3,133	3,269	3,404	3,541	3,579
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Florence Harty	3.8	2,063	2,089	2,110	2,119	2,149	2,198	2,247	2,590
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Thomas Dennehy	3.2	1,749	1,795	1,817	1,836	1,867	1,884	1,977
	Farmers' Party	Charles Roche	3.0	1,637	1,644	1,682	1,695	1,713	1,746
	Independent	William McElligott	2.1	1,109	1,131	1,166	1,187	1,208
	Labour	Diarmuid O'Leary	2.0	1,054	1,082	1,106	1,116
	Independent	Kate Breen	1.8	978	983	994
	Farmers' Party	John Kavanagh	1.4	729	741
	Clann Éireann	Eamon Horan	0.9	484
Electorate: 78,540   Valid: 53,885   Quota: 6,736   Turnout: 68.6%

1923 general election

1923 general election: Kerry^[7][22]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	Republican	Austin Stack[*]	18.8	10,333
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Fionán Lynch[*]	16.4	8,982
	Republican	Tom McEllistrim	13.3	7,277
	Republican	Thomas O'Donoghue[*]	8.0	4,414	5,839	5,862	6,018	6,038	6,141	6,162	6,232	6,363	6,514	6,972
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John O'Sullivan	6.9	3,759	3,807	4,500	4,508	4,524	4,607	5,167	5,428	5,542	6,087	6,759
	Cumann na nGaedheal	James Crowley[*]	6.9	3,759	3,773	4,321	4,323	4,468	4,519	5,304	5,486	5,588	5,992	6,648
	Farmers' Party	Denis Brosnan	5.8	3,182	3,254	3,344	3,361	3,388	3,507	3,569	4,629	4,884	5,224	5,468
	Republican	Patrick Cahill[*]	4.9	2,708	4,144	4,152	4,315	4,324	4,498	4,524	4,609	4,891	5,170	5,955
	Labour	Patrick Casey	4.2	2,329	2,447	2,481	2,496	2,543	2,733	2,860	2,942	4,060	4,324
	Labour	Cormack Walsh	3.6	1,974	2,030	2,062	2,071	2,091	2,155	2,181	2,218
	Farmers' Party	John O'Neill	3.1	1,674	1,781	1,868	1,879	1,892	2,021	2,128
	Independent	Thomas O'Donnell	3.0	1,640	1,727	1,809	1,822	1,846	1,997	2,131	2,317	2,390
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Thomas Dennehy	2.4	1,308	1,324	1,805	1,807	1,837	1,940
	Independent	Jeremiah McSweeney	2.0	1,124	1,203	1,243	1,267	1,289
	Independent	Edward J. Gleeson	0.7	382	401	409	410
Electorate: 90,156   Valid: 54,845   Quota: 6,856   Turnout: 60.8%

See also

• Dáil constituencies
• Elections in the Republic of Ireland
• Politics of the Republic of Ireland
• List of Dáil by-elections
• List of political parties in the Republic of Ireland