Westmeath (Dáil constituency)

Westmeath was a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas from 1992 to 2007. The constituency was served by 3 deputies (Teachtaí Dála, commonly known as TDs). The method of election was proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).

Westmeath
Former Dáil constituency
Former constituency
Created	1992
Abolished	2007
Seats	3
Local government area	County Westmeath
Created from	Longford–Westmeath
Replaced by	Longford–Westmeath

History

The constituency was created in 1992 under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1990 and was first used for the 1992 general election.^[1] It was abolished under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2005, when it was replaced by the new constituency of Longford–Westmeath.

Boundaries

The constituency spanned the entire area of County Westmeath taking in Mullingar, Athlone and Moate.^[1]

TDs

Teachtaí Dála (TDs) for Westmeath 1992–2007
Key to parties   FF = Fianna Fáil   FG = Fine Gael   Lab = Labour
Dáil	Election	Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)
27th	1992[2]		Willie Penrose (Lab)		Mary O'Rourke (FF)		Paul McGrath (FG)
28th	1997[3]
29th	2002[4]				Donie Cassidy (FF)
30th	2007	Constituency abolished. See 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

2002 general election

2002 general election: Westmeath^[4]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	Labour	Willie Penrose	26.1	8,967
	Fianna Fáil	Donie Cassidy	22.9	7,892	7,982	8,558
	Fianna Fáil	Mary O'Rourke	18.7	6,444	6,491	8,035
	Fine Gael	Paul McGrath	16.2	5,570	5,715	8,485
	Fine Gael	Nicky McFadden	11.0	3,793	3,824
	Sinn Féin	Niamh Hogg	3.4	1,185	1,216
	Independent	Veronica Lynam	1.3	444	460
	Christian Solidarity	Patrick Walsh	0.4	126	127
Electorate: 56,054   Valid: 34,421   Spoilt: 557 (1.6%)   Quota: 8,606   Turnout: 34,978 (62.4%)

1997 general election

1997 general election: Westmeath^[5]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Labour	Willie Penrose	24.5	8,037	8,271
	Fianna Fáil	Mary O'Rourke	22.2	7,262	7,454	8,233
	Fine Gael	Paul McGrath	15.9	5,218	5,388	5,689	8,449
	Fianna Fáil	Henry Abbott	14.4	4,706	4,926	6,830	7,082
	Fine Gael	Joe Whelan	10.0	3,266	3,361	3,408
	Fianna Fáil	Camillus Glynn	9.2	3,005	3,198
	National Party	Danny Murray	3.4	1,118
	Independent	Benny Cooney	0.5	175
Electorate: 49,007   Valid: 32,787   Spoilt: 297 (0.9%)   Quota: 8,197   Turnout: 33,084 (67.5%)

1992 general election

1992 general election: Westmeath^[6]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Fianna Fáil	Mary O'Rourke	24.1	7,396	7,410	7,421	7,432	7,477	7,655	7,918
	Fianna Fáil	Henry Abbott	21.5	6,598	6,603	6,627	6,684	6,750	6,861	6,920	7,080	7,184
	Labour	Willie Penrose	20.1	6,182	6,193	6,255	6,309	6,394	6,523	6,701	7,277	7,321
	Fine Gael	Paul McGrath	17.4	5,347	5,349	5,407	5,474	5,487	5,558	5,633	7,631	7,648
	Fine Gael	Brendan McFadden	9.3	2,849	2,864	2,872	2,886	2,891	2,954	3,149
	Independent	Stephen Price	2.4	747	751	755	767	795
	Independent	Mary Humphreys	2.4	735	748	765	793	823	957
	Sinn Féin	Peter Rogers	1.1	323	325	326	332
	Independent	John Dunne	0.8	242	253	265
	Independent	Declan Geraghty	0.6	198	202
	Independent	Benny Cooney	0.3	86
Electorate: 46,267   Valid: 30,703   Spoilt: 446 (1.4%)   Quota: 7,676   Turnout: 31,149 (67.3%)

See also

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