Meath–Westmeath (Dáil constituency)

Meath–Westmeath was a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas from 1937 to 1948. The constituency elected 5 deputies (Teachtaí Dála, commonly known as TDs) to the Dáil, on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).

Meath–Westmeath
Former Dáil constituency
Former constituency
Created	1937
Abolished	1948
Seats	5
Local government areas	County Meath County Westmeath
Created from	Meath Longford–Westmeath
Replaced by	Meath Longford–Westmeath

History

The constituency was created under the Electoral (Revision of Constituencies) Act 1935 for the 1937 general election to the 9th Dáil.^[1] It was last used for the 1944 general election to the 12th Dáil.

Meath–Westmeath was abolished under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1947, and replaced by the two new constituencies of Meath and Longford–Westmeath.

Boundaries

The 1935 Act defined its area as: "The administrative County of Meath and the administrative County of Westmeath except the portion thereof which is comprised in the County Constituency of Athlone–Longford."^[1]

TDs

Teachtaí Dála (TDs) for Meath–Westmeath 1937–1948[2]
Key to parties   FF = Fianna Fáil   FG = Fine Gael
Dáil	Election	Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)
9th	1937[3]		Matthew O'Reilly (FF)		Michael Kennedy (FF)		James Kelly (FF)		Charles Fagan (FG)		Patrick Giles (FG)
10th	1938[4]
11th	1943[5]						Michael Hilliard (FF)
12th	1944[6]
13th	1948	Constituency abolished. See Meath and Longford–Westmeath

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

1944 general election

1944 general election: Meath–Westmeath^[6][7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Hilliard	19.5	8,648
	Fine Gael	Charles Fagan	14.9	6,606	6,617	6,705	6,845	6,960	7,967
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Kennedy	12.6	5,560	5,677	5,717	5,730	7,113	7,244	7,274	8,750
	Fine Gael	Patrick Giles	12.4	5,497	5,548	5,564	5,783	5,791	6,393	6,846	7,007	7,085
	Fianna Fáil	Matthew O'Reilly	10.9	4,828	5,143	5,152	5,188	5,416	5,536	5,565	8,114
	Labour	Peadar Cowan	8.9	3,961	3,986	4,622	4,795	4,857	4,977	5,051	5,153	5,208
	Fianna Fáil	James Kelly	8.0	3,522	4,233	4,256	4,286	4,404	4,445	4,449
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick McKenna	4.5	1,970	1,991	2,001	2,007
	Clann na Talmhan	Gerry L'Estrange	3.6	1,613	1,622	1,642	2,169	2,230
	Clann na Talmhan	Michael Bracken	2.7	1,189	1,195	1,205
	Labour	Owen Comiskey	1.9	863	868
Electorate: 64,104   Valid: 44,257   Quota: 7,377   Turnout: 69.0%

1943 general election

1943 general election: Meath–Westmeath^[5][7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	Fine Gael	Charles Fagan	14.9	7,163	7,227	7,332	7,372	7,470	7,947	8,017	8,045
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Hilliard	14.8	7,160	7,166	7,456	7,491	7,627	7,770	8,027	9,126
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Kennedy	10.7	5,161	5,226	5,255	5,269	6,362	6,377	6,418	6,995	7,287	7,599	7,663
	Fine Gael	Patrick Giles	8.7	4,202	4,206	4,383	4,544	4,560	5,861	6,134	6,245	8,465
	Labour	Peadar Cowan	8.3	3,983	4,305	4,484	4,502	4,553	4,629	6,276	6,337	6,937	6,956	7,113
	Fianna Fáil	Matthew O'Reilly	7.8	3,786	3,796	3,882	3,942	4,107	4,207	4,261	6,241	6,561	7,210	7,415
	Fianna Fáil	James Kelly	7.7	3,736	3,750	3,840	3,852	3,924	3,958	4,034
	Clann na Talmhan	Joseph Cooney	6.8	3,284	3,304	3,345	4,278	4,366	4,603	4,668	4,691
	Fine Gael	Michael Sweeney	5.1	2,439	2,444	2,479	2,529	2,536
	Labour	John Fitzgerald	4.3	2,081	2,312	2,571	2,582	2,596	2,660
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick McKenna	3.6	1,719	1,772	1,778	1,800
	Clann na Talmhan	Patrick McMahon	2.8	1,351	1,358	1,378
	Independent	Seán Doyle	2.8	1,349	1,356
	Labour	Charles McGurk	1.7	818
Electorate: 64,104   Valid: 48,232   Quota: 8,039   Turnout: 75.2%

1938 general election

1938 general election: Meath–Westmeath^[4][7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Fianna Fáil	James Kelly	19.9	9,690
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Kennedy	18.8	9,139
	Fine Gael	Charles Fagan	15.8	7,665	7,673	7,915	8,413
	Fianna Fáil	Matthew O'Reilly	15.5	7,552	9,066
	Fine Gael	Patrick Giles	14.3	6,959	6,986	7,085	9,309
	Labour	Peadar Cowan	9.5	4,621	4,656	5,160	5,305
	Fine Gael	Michael Sweeney	6.1	2,962	2,969	3,164
Electorate: 61,877   Valid: 48,588   Quota: 8,099   Turnout: 78.5%

1937 general election

1937 general election: Meath–Westmeath^[3][7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Fianna Fáil	James Kelly	19.4	9,328
	Fine Gael	Charles Fagan	15.6	7,514	7,515	7,671	7,883	8,124
	Fianna Fáil	Matthew O'Reilly	14.8	7,111	7,950	7,992	8,056
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Kennedy	13.8	6,641	7,058	7,069	7,435	7,463	7,489	7,535
	Fine Gael	Patrick Giles	13.2	6,354	6,366	6,519	6,546	7,428	9,849
	Fianna Fáil	Eugene Robbins	5.9	2,815	2,830	2,836	3,032	3,049	3,117	3,162
	Fine Gael	Gerald Williamson	4.8	2,292	2,294	2,313	2,320	2,788
	Labour	Peadar Cowan	4.5	2,160	2,173	2,202	2,934	2,971	3,031	3,253
	Fine Gael	Michael Sweeney	3.6	1,750	1,753	1,780	1,793
	Labour	John Hayden	3.5	1,667	1,671	1,684
	Independent	James Daly	1.0	486	488
Electorate: 61,654   Valid: 48,118   Quota: 8,020   Turnout: 78.1%

See also

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