Limerick (Dáil constituency)

Limerick was a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas elected on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV). From 1923 to 1948, it represented the whole city and county of Limerick. On its second creation, from 2011 to 2016, it represented the rural part of the county of Limerick, other than in its neighbouring constituencies of Kerry North–West Limerick and Limerick City.

Limerick
Former Dáil constituency
Location of Limerick within Ireland
Former constituency
Created	2011
Abolished	2016
Seats	3
Local government area	County Limerick
Created from	Limerick East Limerick West
Replaced by	Limerick County

Limerick
Former Dáil constituency
Location of Limerick within Ireland
Former constituency
Created	1923
Abolished	1948
Seats	7
Local government areas	County Limerick Limerick City
Created from	Limerick City–Limerick East Kerry–Limerick West
Replaced by	Limerick East Limerick West

History and boundaries

1923–1948

The constituency was first created as a 7-seat constituency under the Electoral Act 1923 for the 1923 general election to Dáil Éireann; those elected comprised the 4th Dáil. It succeeded the constituencies of Limerick City–Limerick East and Kerry–Limerick West which were used to elect members to the 2nd Dáil and the 3rd Dáil.

It covered Limerick city and all of County Limerick.^[1] It was abolished under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1947, when it was replaced by the two new constituencies of Limerick East and Limerick West.

2011–2016

The Constituency Commission proposed in 2007 that at the next general election a new constituency called Limerick be created.^[2]

It was established by the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2009^[3] when it partially replaced the former constituencies of Limerick East and Limerick West. Most of the rural parts of the Limerick East constituency were transferred to the Limerick constituency and the western parts of the Limerick West constituency were transferred to the Kerry North–West Limerick constituency. It was represented only at the 2011 general election, electing 3 TDs.

The 2009 Act defined the constituency as:^[3]

"The county of Limerick, except the parts thereof which are comprised in the constituencies of Limerick City and Kerry North–West Limerick."

It was abolished at the 2016 general election and replaced by the Limerick County constituency.

TDs

TDs 1923–1948

Teachtaí Dála (TDs) for Limerick 1923–1948[4]
Key to parties   CnaG = Cumann na nGaedheal   FP = Farmers' Party   FF = Fianna Fáil   FG = Fine Gael   Ind = Independent   Lab = Labour   Rep = Republican
Dáil	Election	Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)
4th	1923[5]		Richard Hayes (CnaG)		James Ledden (CnaG)		Seán Carroll (Rep)		James Colbert (Rep)		John Nolan (CnaG)		Patrick Clancy (Lab)		Patrick Hogan (FP)
	1924 by-election[6]		Richard O'Connell (CnaG)
5th	1927 (Jun)[7]				Gilbert Hewson (Ind)		Tadhg Crowley (FF)		James Colbert (FF)		George C. Bennett (CnaG)				Michael Keyes (Lab)
6th	1927 (Sep)[8]				Daniel Bourke (FF)										John Nolan (CnaG)
7th	1932[9]		James Reidy (CnaG)										Robert Ryan (FF)		John O'Shaughnessy (FP)
8th	1933[10]								Donnchadh Ó Briain (FF)						Michael Keyes (Lab)
9th	1937[11]		John O'Shaughnessy (FG)				Michael Colbert (FF)				George C. Bennett (FG)
10th	1938[12]		James Reidy (FG)				Tadhg Crowley (FF)
11th	1943[13]
12th	1944[14]						Michael Colbert (FF)
13th	1948	Constituency abolished. See Limerick East and Limerick West

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 2011–2016

Teachtaí Dála (TDs) for Limerick 2011–2016
Key to parties   FF = Fianna Fáil   FG = Fine Gael
Dáil	Election	Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)
31st	2011[15]		Niall Collins (FF)		Dan Neville (FG)		Patrick O'Donovan (FG)
32nd	2016	Constituency abolished. See Limerick County

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

2011 general election

2011 general election: Limerick^[15]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Fianna Fáil	Niall Collins	20.8	9,361	9,488	9,753	10,809
	Fine Gael	Dan Neville	20.4	9,176	9,347	10,691	11,728
	Fine Gael	Patrick O'Donovan	19.1	8,597	8,793	10,351	11,316
	Labour	James Heffernan	17.6	7,910	8,236	8,893	10,104
	Independent	John Dillon	9.8	4,395	4,767	5,075
	Fine Gael	William O'Donnell	9.2	4,152	4,222
	Independent	Con Cremin	1.0	430
	Independent	Seamus Sherlock	0.9	419
	Green	Stephen Wall	0.8	354
	Independent	Patrick O'Doherty	0.5	247
Electorate: 65,083   Valid: 45,041   Spoilt: 471 (1.0%)   Quota: 11,261   Turnout: 45,512 (69.9%)

1944 general election

1944 general election: Limerick^[14][16]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel Bourke	14.1	8,415
	Labour	Michael Keyes	13.7	8,159
	Fianna Fáil	Donnchadh Ó Briain	12.5	7,481
	Fianna Fáil	Robert Ryan	9.8	5,865	6,027	6,071	6,210	8,925
	Fine Gael	James Reidy	9.6	5,762	5,835	7,181	7,382	7,572
	Fine Gael	George C. Bennett	8.9	5,291	5,305	6,504	6,575	6,780	6,820	6,865
	Fianna Fáil	Tadhg Crowley	8.7	5,182	5,383	5,476	5,586
	Clann na Talmhan	Patrick Fitzsimons	8.3	4,950	4,955	5,763	5,832	6,090	6,121	6,158
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Colbert	8.1	4,852	5,343	5,518	5,623	7,391	8,781
	Fine Gael	David Madden	6.3	3,754	3,759
Electorate: 84,036   Valid: 59,711   Quota: 7,464   Turnout: 71.1%

1943 general election

1943 general election: Limerick^[13][16]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel Bourke	14.4	9,324
	Fianna Fáil	Donnchadh Ó Briain	12.6	8,131
	Labour	Michael Keyes	11.7	7,578	7,671	8,237
	Fine Gael	James Reidy	9.6	6,234	6,300	6,312	6,315	6,422	6,671	7,253	7,476	7,573	8,787
	Fianna Fáil	Tadhg Crowley	7.8	5,072	5,763	5,886	5,890	5,983	6,182	6,259	6,627	8,580
	Fianna Fáil	Robert Ryan	7.3	4,701	4,874	4,885	4,886	5,111	5,169	5,288	5,748	6,378	6,487	6,546	6,580
	Fine Gael	George C. Bennett	7.0	4,529	4,541	4,552	4,552	4,889	6,171	7,279	7,576	7,627	8,769
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Hartney	4.8	3,116	3,237	3,298	3,303	3,335	3,351	3,413	3,535
	Fine Gael	Timothy O'Connell	4.1	2,675	2,678	2,737	2,743	2,763	2,944	3,422	3,582	3,691
	Clann na Talmhan	Patrick Fitzsimons	4.0	2,601	2,606	2,643	2,645	3,681	3,787	4,055	4,164	4,521	5,098	5,462	5,897
	Fine Gael	John MacNamara	3.9	2,513	2,518	2,526	2,527	2,600	2,834
	Fine Gael	Denis Quish	3.6	2,351	2,353	2,358	2,359	2,518
	Clann na Talmhan	Con Ryan	3.4	2,195	2,208	2,209	2,210
	Labour	Seán Hayes	3.3	2,110	2,117	2,862	2,978	3,053	3,153	3,197
	Labour	Patrick Costelloe	2.5	1,645	1,681
Electorate: 84,036   Valid: 64,775   Quota: 8,097   Turnout: 77.1%

1938 general election

1938 general election: Limerick^[12][16]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Fine Gael	James Reidy	14.6	9,812
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel Bourke	13.5	9,058
	Fianna Fáil	Donnchadh Ó Briain	12.1	8,099	8,117	8,132	8,249	8,306	11,286
	Fianna Fáil	Tadhg Crowley	10.7	7,217	7,242	7,305	7,668	7,774	10,206
	Fine Gael	George C. Bennett	9.6	6,474	7,049	7,587	7,737	7,747	7,800	7,820	7,867
	Fianna Fáil	Robert Ryan	9.1	6,117	6,142	6,165	6,324	6,400	6,699	9,056
	Labour	Michael Keyes	8.7	5,836	6,036	6,086	7,327	7,371	7,729	7,879	8,323
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Colbert	8.5	5,741	5,779	5,908	5,974	6,338
	Fine Gael	John O'Shaughnessy	8.5	5,726	6,039	6,294	6,369	6,372	6,493	6,585	6,728
	Labour	Seán Quinn	3.2	2,179	2,214	2,225
	Fine Gael	Michael Burke	1.4	924	1,109
Electorate: 81,048   Valid: 67,183   Quota: 8,398   Turnout: 82.9%

1937 general election

1937 general election: Limerick^[11][16]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	Labour	Michael Keyes	16.8	11,011
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel Bourke	12.4	8,106	8,633
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Colbert	10.6	6,955	7,428	7,497	7,690	7,732	7,882	7,889	7,891	9,578
	Fine Gael	George C. Bennett	9.4	6,131	6,290	6,840	6,861	8,956
	Fine Gael	James Reidy	8.9	5,834	6,165	6,276	6,332	6,670	7,230	7,475	7,714	7,872	7,902
	Fianna Fáil	Donnchadh Ó Briain	8.6	5,663	5,944	6,002	6,045	6,075	6,303	6,309	6,310	7,079	7,948
	Fianna Fáil	Robert Ryan	7.2	4,698	5,140	5,297	5,336	5,387	5,407	5,414	5,421	7,536	8,024
	Fianna Fáil	Tadhg Crowley	6.9	4,544	4,900	4,953	5,038	5,129	5,162	5,175	5,176
	Fine Gael	John O'Shaughnessy	6.7	4,361	4,430	4,565	4,566	5,038	7,954	8,441
	Fine Gael	Timothy O'Connell	5.4	3,537	3,587	3,639	3,642	4,021
	Fine Gael	Liam Fraher	5.1	3,339	3,402	3,563	3,564
	Independent	Thomas Lloyd	2.0	1,343	1,412
Electorate: 81,397   Valid: 65,522   Quota: 8,191   Turnout: 80.5%

1933 general election

1933 general election: Limerick^[10][16]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel Bourke	12.1	7,980	8,002	8,019	8,057	8,075	8,079	8,620
	Fianna Fáil	Donnchadh Ó Briain	11.2	7,383	7,410	7,431	7,507	7,518	7,523	9,594
	Fianna Fáil	Robert Ryan	10.6	6,956	7,007	7,078	7,111	7,123	7,131	7,332	8,508
	Fianna Fáil	Tadhg Crowley	9.9	6,536	6,616	6,641	6,679	6,685	6,688	9,130
	Fianna Fáil	James Colbert	8.8	5,803	5,873	5,890	5,982	5,997	6,002
	Labour	Michael Keyes	8.8	5,798	5,837	5,946	6,079	6,113	6,154	6,631	6,784	7,593	7,901	8,160
	Cumann na nGaedheal	George C. Bennett	8.8	5,791	6,209	7,798	10,430
	Cumann na nGaedheal	James Reidy	8.3	5,443	5,474	5,939	7,434	9,217
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John Nolan	6.5	4,265	4,414	5,502
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Richard O'Connell	5.4	3,560	3,725
	National Centre Party	John O'Shaughnessy	5.1	3,388	5,326	5,611	6,524	6,835	7,746	7,927	7,952	8,033	8,062	8,071
	National Centre Party	John Canty	4.6	3,010
Electorate: 78,350   Valid: 65,913   Quota: 8,240   Turnout: 84.1%

1932 general election

The number of and full figures for later counts are not available. Bennett, Bourke, Colbert, Crowley, O'Shaughnessy, Reidy and Ryan were all elected.

1932 general election: Limerick^[9][16]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel Bourke	12.4	7,677	7,775
	Fianna Fáil	Robert Ryan	10.8	6,645	6,667	6,708	6,722	7,211	7,760
	Fianna Fáil	James Colbert	9.9	6,100	6,270	6,371	6,443	6,834	8,452
	Cumann na nGaedheal	George C. Bennett	9.6	5,919	5,951	6,298	6,649	6,826	6,866	N/A
	Cumann na nGaedheal	James Reidy	8.2	5,088	5,142	5,208	5,495	5,537	5,572	N/A
	Fianna Fáil	Tadhg Crowley	8.0	4,966	5,024	5,082	5,112	5,477	6,176	N/A
	Farmers' Party	John O'Shaughnessy	7.9	4,887	4,903	5,417	5,647	5,757	6,065	N/A
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Richard O'Connell	5.8	3,573	3,590	3,627	3,894	4,005	4,043	N/A
	Fianna Fáil	Donnchadh Ó Briain	5.4	3,334	3,365	3,413	3,453	3,536
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John Nolan	5.4	3,325	3,339	3,435	4,155	4,237	4,279	N/A
	Labour	Michael Keyes	5.0	3,101	3,787	3,875	3,955	4,441	4,592	N/A
	Independent	Patrick Clancy	3.4	2,105	2,324	2,368	2,420
	Cumann na nGaedheal	David Madden	3.3	2,045	2,067	2,178
	Independent	Gilbert Hewson	2.5	1,562	1,585
	Labour	Daniel Clancy	2.4	1,486
Electorate: 76,959   Valid: 61,813   Quota: 7,727   Turnout: 80.3%

September 1927 general election

September 1927 general election: Limerick^[8][16]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Cumann na nGaedheal	George C. Bennett	14.0	7,993
	Fianna Fáil	James Colbert	11.2	6,385	6,404	6,592	6,617	6,617	7,020	7,080	7,270
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel Bourke	10.0	5,711	5,764	6,720	6,773	6,774	6,837	6,856	7,221
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John Nolan	9.5	5,390	5,518	5,544	7,306
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Richard O'Connell	9.4	5,354	5,508	5,612	6,429	6,594	8,189
	Fianna Fáil	Tadhg Crowley	8.1	4,625	4,639	5,825	5,867	5,868	5,955	6,033	6,405	7,376
	Labour	Patrick Clancy	7.8	4,447	4,508	4,740	4,803	4,804	4,921	4,981	8,440
	Labour	Michael Keyes	7.5	4,290	4,309	4,446	4,626	4,631	4,790	4,867
	Farmers' Party	Cornelius O'Sullivan	6.0	3,434	3,451	3,539	3,612	3,621
	Independent	Gilbert Hewson	5.9	3,352	3,410	3,493	3,698	3,705	4,635	5,303	5,492	5,844
	Fianna Fáil	Robert Ryan	5.4	3,049	3,054
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Matthew Griffin	5.1	2,898	3,246	3,268
Electorate: 79,765   Valid: 56,928   Quota: 7,117   Turnout: 71.4%

June 1927 general election

June 1927 general election: Limerick^[7][16]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
	Fianna Fáil	James Colbert	10.3	5,531	5,554	5,585	5,595	5,607	5,632	5,716	5,899	6,605	6,689	6,724
	Cumann na nGaedheal	George C. Bennett	9.6	5,165	5,185	5,265	5,466	6,041	6,245	6,517	6,586	6,660	7,170
	Fianna Fáil	Tadhg Crowley	9.1	4,865	4,940	4,954	5,062	5,082	5,267	5,364	6,568	6,762
	Labour	Michael Keyes	8.2	4,404	4,412	4,436	4,483	4,601	4,629	4,892	4,970	5,431	6,617	6,620	6,689	6,692	6,828
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Richard O'Connell	7.9	4,228	4,248	4,379	4,502	4,816	5,011	5,148	5,262	5,348	5,520	5,520	5,585	5,585	6,045	6,054	6,122	8,660
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel Bourke	7.1	3,795	3,806	3,812	3,817	3,828	3,838	3,889	4,071	4,115	4,183	4,186	4,197	4,202	4,366	4,370
	Labour	Patrick Clancy	5.7	3,086	3,103	3,109	3,195	3,218	3,356	3,478	3,685	3,958	4,211	4,217	4,259	4,262	4,391	4,435	5,757	5,901	6,213
	Independent	Gilbert Hewson	5.7	3,054	3,127	3,229	3,352	3,424	3,653	3,848	3,947	4,165	4,443	4,445	4,515	4,517	5,610	5,623	5,881	6,704	7,326
	Farmers' Party	Cornelius O'Sullivan	4.9	2,623	2,635	2,697	2,723	2,737	3,048	3,188	3,248	3,605	3,693	3,695	3,715	3,716
	Independent	Matthew Murphy	4.8	2,594	2,615	2,683	2,697	2,710	2,724	2,790	2,803
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John Nolan	4.6	2,446	2,463	2,717	2,793	3,040	3,109	3,254	3,270	3,461	3,567	3,568	3,726	3,726	4,584	4,595	4,653
	National League	Michael Joyce	4.4	2,350	2,438	2,452	2,464	2,566	2,603	2,936	2,964	3,022
	Fianna Fáil	Robert Ryan	3.7	2,006	2,025	2,027	2,104	2,117	2,275	2,369
	Independent	Matthew Quillinan	3.4	1,848	1,852	1,877	1,945	2,032	2,081
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Matthew Griffin	3.0	1,613	1,627	1,658	1,665
	Farmers' Party	William Condon	2.8	1,477	1,527	1,542	1,718	1,736
	Independent	John Smith	2.2	1,205	1,208	1,213
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John O'Mahony	1.7	886	890
	National League	John Coleman	0.9	503
Electorate: 79,765   Valid: 53,679   Quota: 6,710   Turnout: 67.3%

1924 by-election

Following the resignation of Cumann na nGaedheal TD Richard Hayes, a by-election was held on 28 May 1924. The seat was won by the Cumann na nGaedheal candidate Richard O'Connell.

1924 by-election: Limerick^[6][16]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Richard O'Connell	54.3	28,243
	Republican	Tadhg Crowley	45.7	23,738
Electorate: 79,000   Valid: 51,981   Quota: 25,991   Turnout: 65.8%

1923 general election

Full figures for the remaining 16 counts are not available. The following are the number of votes unsuccessful candidates had at the time of their elimination though the counts which some eliminations occurred are unknown due to data being unavailable; Mackey 143, Larkin 509, J. O'Brien 766, Cleary 996, O'Callaghan 1,159, W. O'Brien 1,273, Walshe 1,706, Laffin 2,197, Colivet 2,249, Quaide 2,468, Keyes 2,808 and Smyth 3,509

Michael Gallagher notes^[16] that newspapers at the time reported there was a 'discrepancy' with the original first count results, leading to a recount. The results below are of the first count which occurred so may not be fully accurate, the results of the recount are unavailable.

1923 general election: Limerick^[5][16]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Richard Hayes	20.7	10,498
	Cumann na nGaedheal	James Ledden	12.5	6,335	8,256
	Republican	Seán Carroll	11.7	5,946	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	6,451
	Republican	James Colbert	9.5	4,842	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	7,081
	Labour	Matthew Murphy	6.6	3,332	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	4,774
	Labour	Patrick Clancy	6.5	3,305	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	5,360
	Farmers' Party	Bartholomew Laffan	3.3	1,656	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Farmers' Party	John Quaide	3.2	1,619	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Labour	Michael Keyes	3.0	1,549	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John Smyth	3.0	1,547	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Farmers' Party	Patrick Hogan	3.0	1,537	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	5,932
	Republican	Michael Colivet	3.0	1,519	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John Nolan	2.9	1,476	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	7,361 or 7,631
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Patrick Walshe	2.5	1,254	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Farmers' Party	William O'Brien	2.2	1,143	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Republican	Kathleen O'Callaghan	2.2	1,097	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	1,159
	Independent	Michael Cleary	1.8	907	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	996
	Labour	James O'Brien	1.3	674	N/A	N/A	N/A	766
	Independent	William Larkin	0.9	466	N/A	N/A	509
	Independent	Anthony Mackey	0.2	114	N/A	143
Electorate: 79,340   Valid: 50,816   Quota: 6,353   Turnout: 64.1%

See also

• Dáil constituencies
• Politics of the Republic of Ireland
• Historic Dáil constituencies
• Elections in the Republic of Ireland