Roscommon–Leitrim (Dáil constituency)

Roscommon–Leitrim was a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas from 1969 to 1981. The constituency elected 3 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).

Roscommon–Leitrim
Former Dáil constituency
Former constituency
Created	1969
Abolished	1981
Seats	3
Local government area	County Roscommon County Leitrim
Created from	Roscommon Sligo–Leitrim
Replaced by	Roscommon Sligo–Leitrim

History

The constituency was created under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1969, and first used for the 1969 general election.^[1] It replaced the previous Roscommon constituency and part of the Sligo–Leitrim constituency.

Its boundaries were revised in 1977, but the number of seats remained unchanged. The constituency was abolished for the 1981 general election, when its territory was divided between the existing Sligo–Leitrim constituency and a new Roscommon constituency.^[2]

Boundaries

It covered most of the County Roscommon and part of County Leitrim.

Changes to the Roscommon–Leitrim constituency

Years	TDs	Boundaries	Law	Notes
1969–1977	3	All of County Roscommon, except the parts thereof which are comprised in the constituencies of Clare–South Galway and Galway North-East; In County Leitrim, the parts of the former Rural District of Carrick-on-Shannon No. 1.; parts of the former Rural District of Mohill; In County Westmeath, the district electoral divisions of Athlone West Urban.[1]	Electoral (Amendment) Act 1969	Constituency created. The following areas in Galway North-East: in the administrative county of Roscommon, parts of the former Rural District of Athlone No. 2; parts of the former Rural District of Castlereagh; parts of the former Rural District of Roscommon.[1] The following areas in Clare–South Galway: in the administrative county of Roscommon, parts of the former Rural District of Athlone No. 2.[1]
1977–1981	3	Boundaries more closely aligned with county boundaries, and defined as: The administrative county of Roscommon, except the part, thereof which is comprised in the constituency of Mayo East; and the administrative county of Leitrim, except the part thereof which is comprised in the constituency of Sligo–Leitrim.[3]	Electoral (Amendment) Act 1974	The following parts of Roscommon in Mayo East: parts of the former Rural District of Castlereagh[3] The following parts of Leitrim in Sligo–Leitrim: the district electoral divisions of: parts of the former Rural District of Kinlough, in the coastal northern area of Leitrim; Most of the former Rural District of Manorhamilton, including Arigna.[3]
1981	—	Constituency abolished.[2]	Electoral (Amendment) Act 1980	The two counties now represented through the constituencies of Roscommon–South Leitrim and Sligo–North Leitrim

TDs

Teachtaí Dála (TDs) for Roscommon–Leitrim 1969–1981[4]
Key to parties   FF = Fianna Fáil   FG = Fine Gael
Dáil	Election	Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)
19th	1969[5]		Hugh Gibbons (FF)		Brian Lenihan (FF)		Joan Burke (FG)
20th	1973[6]				Patrick J. Reynolds (FG)
21st	1977[7]		Terry Leyden (FF)		Seán Doherty (FF)
22nd	1981	Constituency abolished. See Roscommon and Sligo–Leitrim

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

1977 general election

1977 general election: Roscommon–Leitrim^[7][8]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Fine Gael	Joan Burke	22.1	7,862	7,913	8,082	8,274	10,208
	Fianna Fáil	Terry Leyden	18.5	6,563	6,607	6,638	6,660	7,017	7,139	8,986
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Doherty	16.8	5,968	6,056	6,124	6,167	6,211	6,225	9,109
	Fine Gael	Patrick J. Reynolds	16.3	5,802	5,815	5,873	5,953	6,212	7,381	8,096
	Fianna Fáil	John Ellis	15.5	5,496	5,547	5,578	5,682	5,720	5,731
	Fine Gael	Liam Naughten	7.4	2,624	2,636	2,678	2,718
	Independent	James Reynolds	1.4	502	521	536
	Labour	Connie Fallon	1.1	395	444
	Independent	Desmond Curley	1.0	355
Electorate: 43,958   Valid: 35,567   Quota: 8,892   Turnout: 80.9%

1973 general election

1973 general election: Roscommon–Leitrim^[6][9]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Fine Gael	Joan Burke	25.4	7,241
	Fianna Fáil	Hugh Gibbons	20.0	5,689	5,695	5,720	5,776	5,902	6,916	7,119
	Fianna Fáil	Brian Lenihan	19.5	5,548	5,553	5,587	5,647	5,760	6,234	6,318
	Fine Gael	Patrick J. Reynolds	16.5	4,706	4,740	4,974	5,076	5,306	5,536	7,253
	Fine Gael	Gerald Dodd	6.3	1,801	1,871	1,979	2,036	2,283	2,295
	Fianna Fáil	Farrell McElgunn	6.0	1,704	1,704	1,720	1,728	1,771
	Sinn Féin (Official)	Frances Grehan	2.7	770	772	832	1,006
	Independent	Thomas McCrann	1.8	513	515	533
	Labour	Tony O'Connell	1.8	503	506
Electorate: 37,682   Valid: 28,475   Quota: 7,119   Turnout: 75.6%

1969 general election

1969 general election: Roscommon–Leitrim^[5][10]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Fine Gael	Joan Burke	26.7	8,102
	Fianna Fáil	Brian Lenihan	22.7	6,867	6,895	6,906	7,008	7,181	7,428	8,280
	Fianna Fáil	Hugh Gibbons	17.4	5,282	5,318	5,349	5,365	5,420	5,645	6,860	7,502
	Fine Gael	Patrick J. Reynolds	15.1	4,574	4,771	4,826	4,858	5,736	6,207	6,567	6,628
	Fianna Fáil	Farrell McElgunn	8.2	2,467	2,471	2,480	2,494	2,528	2,575
	Labour	Peter McGuinness	3.8	1,163	1,188	1,246	1,612	1,654
	Fine Gael	Thomas Kilroy	3.3	1,009	1,233	1,241	1,338
	Labour	Neil O'Shea	2.0	610	618	675
	Labour	James Nolan	0.8	232	235
Electorate: 38,461   Valid: 30,306   Quota: 7,577   Turnout: 78.8%

See also

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