1944 Irish general election
{{Short description|Election to the 12th Dáil}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=July 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 1944 Irish general election
| country = Ireland
| type = parliamentary
| ongoing = no
| previous_election = 1943 Irish general election
| previous_year = 1943
| election_date = 30 May 1944
| next_election = 1948 Irish general election
| next_year = 1948
| seats_for_election = 138 seats in Dáil Éireann{{efn|name=CC|Including Frank Fahy (FF), returned automatically for Galway East as outgoing Ceann Comhairle, under Art. 16.6 of the Constitution and the Electoral (Chairman of Dáil Éireann) Act 1937.{{cite Irish legislation|year=1937|number=25|name=Electoral (Chairman of Dail Eireann) Act 1937|date=1 November 1937|section=3|stitle=Re-election of outgoing Ceann Comhairle}}{{cite web |title=12th Dáil 1944: Galway East |url=https://electionsireland.org/result.cfm?election=1944&cons=122 |website=ElectionsIreland.org |access-date=9 July 2022}}}}
| majority_seats = 70
| turnout = 69.2% {{decrease}} 5.0 pp
| previous_mps = 11th Dáil
| elected_mps = 12th Dáil
| image1 = {{CSS image crop|Image =De Valera, 1939 (cropped).jpg|bSize = 144|cWidth = 120|cHeight = 160|oTop = 0|oLeft = 8}}
| leader1 = Éamon de Valera
| party1 = Fianna Fáil
| leader_since1 = 26 March 1926
| leaders_seat1 = Clare
| last_election1 = 67 seats, 41.9%
| seats1 = 76
| seat_change1 = {{increase}}9
| popular_vote1 = 595,259
| percentage1 = 48.9%
| swing1 = {{increase}}7.0 pp
| image2 = {{CSS image crop|Image =Gen. Richard Mulcahy cropped.jpg|bSize = 120|cWidth = 120|cHeight = 160|oTop = 0|oLeft = 0}}
| leader2 = Richard Mulcahy
| leader_since2 = 1944
| party2 = Fine Gael
| leaders_seat2 = Tipperary
| last_election2 = 32 seats, 23.1%
| seats2 = 30
| seat_change2 = {{decrease}}2
| popular_vote2 = 249,329
| percentage2 = 20.5%
| swing2 = {{decrease}}2.6 pp
| image3 = {{CSS image crop|Image =Joseph Blowick, 1950 (cropped).jpg|bSize = 130|cWidth = 120|cHeight = 160|oTop = 0|oLeft = 10}}
| leader3 = Joseph Blowick
| leader_since3 = 1944
| party3 = Clann na Talmhan
| leaders_seat3 = Mayo South
| last_election3 = 10 seats, 9.0%
| seats3 = 9
| seat_change3 = {{decrease}}1
| popular_vote3 = 122,745
| percentage3 = 10.8%
| swing3 = {{increase}}1.8 pp
| image4 = {{CSS image crop|Image =William Norton, circa 1945 (cropped).png|bSize = 120|cWidth = 120|cHeight = 160|oTop = 0|oLeft = 0}}
| leader4 = William Norton
| leader_since4 = 1932
| party4 = Labour Party (Ireland)
| leaders_seat4 = Carlow–Kildare
| last_election4 = 17 seats, 15.7%
| seats4 = 8
| seat_change4 = {{decrease}}9
| popular_vote4 = 106,767
| percentage4 = 8.7%
| swing4 = {{decrease}}7.0 pp
| image5 = {{CSS image crop|Image =James Everett, 1949.jpg|bSize = 120|cWidth = 120|cHeight = 160|oTop = 0|oLeft = 0}}
| leader5 = James Everett
| leader_since5 = 1944
| party5 = National Labour Party (Ireland)
| leaders_seat5 = Wicklow
| last_election5 = New party
| seats5 = 4
| seat_change5 = New
| popular_vote5 = 32,732
| percentage5 = 2.7%
| swing5 = New party
| map_image = {{Switcher
| 400px
| Election results and first-preference votes in each constituency
| 400px
| Number of seats gained by each party in each constituency}}
| title = Taoiseach
| before_election = Éamon de Valera
| before_party = Fianna Fáil
| posttitle = Taoiseach after election
| after_election = Éamon de Valera
| after_party = Fianna Fáil
}}
The 1944 Irish general election to the 12th Dáil was held on Tuesday, 30 May, having been called on 9 May by President Douglas Hyde on the advice of Taoiseach Éamon de Valera. The general election took place in 34 parliamentary constituencies for 138 seats in Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas. Fianna Fáil won an overall majority. The outgoing 11th Dáil was dissolved on 7 June.
The 12th Dáil met at Leinster House on 9 June to nominate the Taoiseach for appointment by the president and to approve the appointment of a new government of Ireland on the nomination of the Taoiseach. Outgoing Taoiseach Éamon de Valera was re-appointed leading a single-party Fianna Fáil government.
Calling the election
The outgoing Fianna Fáil government, formed on 1 July 1943, was a minority government. On 9 July 1944, it suffered a defeat for the second reading of its Transport Bill.{{cite web |title=Transport Bill, 1944—Second Stage—(Resumed). Dáil Éireann - 09 May 1944 |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/vote/dail/11/1944-05-09/1/ |website=Houses of the Oireachtas |access-date=16 December 2022}} Taoiseach Éamon de Valera sought a snap election, just one year after the previous election, in hopes of getting an overall majority.
It was the second election called under the General Elections (Emergency Provisions) Act 1943.{{cite web |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/cons/en/html#article16_3_1 |title=Constitution of Ireland |work=Irish Statute Book |page=Article 16.3 |no-pp=y |access-date=27 March 2018 |archive-date=3 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503055502/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/cons/en/html#article16_3_1 |url-status=live }}; {{cite Irish legislation|year=1943|number=11|name=General Elections (Emergency Provisions) Act 1943|access-date=27 March 2018}}{{cite web |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1944-05-10/speech/42/ |title=Adjournment of the Dáil |last=de Valera |first=Éamon |date=10 May 1944 |no-pp=y |page=Vol.93 No.15 p.3 c.2497–2498 |quote=I did not ask for a dissolution of the Dáil. This Dáil would not have been meeting to-day if there had been a dissolution. ... I did not ask for a dissolution, because we passed an Act last year to enable the Dáil, during this critical period, to be brought together at any time that there was need for doing so, so that the Executive at any time would have to assemble the Dáil in case there was any national issue that demanded its assembly. ... when the Dáil adjourns now it will not meet again unless there is some national issue which makes it necessary to call the Dáil together. |access-date=15 June 2020 |archive-date=23 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923214551/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1944-05-10/2/ |url-status=live }} The Act, intended to increase national security by minimising the interval during which no Dáil is in existence, subvented the requirement under the Constitution for the president to dissolve the Dáil before a general election took place, and was permitted under the state of emergency in effect during the Second World War.{{cite web |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1943-04-14/18/ |title=General Elections (Emergency Provisions) Bill, 1943—Second Stage. |date=14 April 1943 |work=Dáil Éireann debates |publisher=Oireachtas |access-date=15 June 2020 |archive-date=15 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615192657/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1943-04-14/18/ |url-status=live }} The election was called on 9 May but the Dáil met as scheduled on the following day, when an adjournment debate was held in which the opposition TDs condemned the decision to hold an election in wartime as unnecessary and reckless. The 11th Dáil was dissolved on 7 June 1944.{{cite news |title=Dáil dissolved |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1944/0608/Pg003.html#Ar00332 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=8 June 1944 |page=3}}
Campaign
The campaign was not wanted by the opposition parties. Fianna Fáil fought the election on its record in government and also in the hope of securing a fresh mandate for its policies. During the campaign Fine Gael put forward the proposal of forming a coalition government with the Labour Party and Clann na Talmhan; however, this was ridiculed by Fianna Fáil as untenable. National Labour had split from Labour in January 1944.
Due to the fractured nature of the opposition, Éamon de Valera's tactic of calling a snap general election succeeded, with Fianna Fáil increasing its share of seats, as it had in the previous snap elections of 1933 and 1938.
Result
{{Irish general election header
|elec_no = 12th
|elec_date = 30 May
|elec_year = 1944
|note ={{cite web |url=http://electionsireland.org/results/general/12dail.cfm |title=12th Dáil 1944 General Election |work=ElectionsIreland.org |access-date=2 May 2009 |archive-date=3 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090603190745/http://electionsireland.org/results/general/12dail.cfm |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/gdala.htm |title=Dáil elections since 1918 |work=ARK Northern Ireland |access-date=2 May 2009 |archive-date=27 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127122828/https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/gdala.htm |url-status=live }}Maurice Manning (1972) notes that the Clann na Talmhan figure is often listed in error, due to the inclusion of Independent Farmer TDs in the CnaT total.{{cite book|author-link1=Dieter Nohlen|first1=Dieter|last1=Nohlen|first2=Philip|last2=Stöver|date=2010 |title=Elections in Europe: A data handbook|pages=1009–1017|publisher=Nomos |isbn=978-3-8329-5609-7}}
|image = File:Irish general election 1944.svg
}}
{{Irish general election party
|party = Fianna Fáil
|leader = Éamon de Valera
|seats = 76{{efn|name=CC}}
|seats_chg = +9
|seats_% = 55.1
|fpv = 595,259
|fpv_% = 48.9
|fpv_chg = +7.0
}}
{{Irish general election party
|party = Fine Gael
|leader = Richard Mulcahy
|seats = 30
|seats_chg = –2
|seats_% = 21.8
|fpv = 249,329
|fpv_% = 20.5
|fpv_chg = –2.6
}}
{{Irish general election party
|party = Clann na Talmhan
|leader = Joseph Blowick
|seats = 9
|seats_chg = –1
|seats_% = 6.5
|fpv = 122,745
|fpv_% = 10.1
|fpv_chg = +0.3
}}
{{Irish general election party
|party = Labour Party (Ireland)
|leader = William Norton
|seats = 8
|seats_chg = –9
|seats_% = 5.8
|fpv = 106,767
|fpv_% = 8.8
|fpv_chg = –6.9
}}
{{Irish general election party
|party = National Labour Party (Ireland)
|leader = James Everett
|seats = 4
|seats_chg = New
|seats_% = 2.9
|fpv = 32,732
|fpv_% = 2.7
|fpv_chg = –
}}
{{Irish general election party
|party = Irish Monetary Reform Association
|leader = Oliver J. Flanagan
|seats = 1
|seats_chg = 0
|seats_% = 0.7
|fpv = 9,856
|fpv_% = 0.8
|fpv_chg = +0.5
}}
{{Irish general election party
|party = Ailtirí na hAiséirghe
|leader =
|seats = 0
|seats_chg = 0
|seats_% = 0
|fpv = 5,809
|fpv_% = 0.5
|fpv_chg = +0.3
}}
{{Irish general election party
|party = Independent politician (Ireland)
|leader = N/A
|seats = 10
|seats_chg = 0
|seats_% = 7.2
|fpv = 94,852
|fpv_% = 7.8
|fpv_chg = –0.9
}}
{{Irish general election spoilt
|votes = 12,790
}}
{{Irish general election total
|seats = 138
|seats_chg = 0
|fpv = 1,230,139
}}
{{Irish general election electorate
|electorate = 1,816,142
|turnout = 69.2%
}}
|}
=Voting summary=
{{bar box
|title=First preference vote
|titlebar=#ddd
|width=600px
|barwidth=350px
|bars=
{{bar percent|Fianna Fáil|{{party color|Fianna Fáil}}|48.9}}
{{bar percent|Fine Gael|{{party color|Fine Gael}}|20.5}}
{{bar percent|Clann na Talmhan|{{party color|Clann na Talmhan}}|10.1}}
{{bar percent|Labour|{{party color|Labour Party (Ireland)}}|8.8}}
{{bar percent|National Labour|{{party color|National Labour Party (Ireland)}}|2.7}}
{{bar percent|Monetary Reform|{{party color|Irish Monetary Reform Association}}|0.8}}
{{bar percent|Ailtirí na hAiséirghe|{{party color|Ailtirí na hAiséirghe}}|0.5}}
{{bar percent|Independent|{{party color|Independent politician (Ireland)}}|7.8}}
}}
=Seats summary=
{{bar box
|title=Dáil seats
|titlebar=#ddd
|width=600px
|barwidth=350px
|bars=
{{bar percent|Fianna Fáil|{{party color|Fianna Fáil}}|55.1}}
{{bar percent|Fine Gael|{{party color|Fine Gael}}|21.8}}
{{bar percent|Clann na Talmhan|{{party color|Clann na Talmhan}}|6.5}}
{{bar percent|Labour|{{party color|Labour Party (Ireland)}}|5.8}}
{{bar percent|National Labour|{{party color|National Labour Party (Ireland)}}|2.9}}
{{bar percent|Monetary Reform|{{party color|Irish Monetary Reform Association}}|0.7}}
{{bar percent|Independent|{{party color|Independent politician (Ireland)}}|7.2}}
}}
Government formation
Fianna Fáil formed the 4th government of Ireland, a majority government.
Changes in membership
=First-time TDs=
=Re-elected TDs=
=Outgoing TDs=
=Retiring TDs=
Seanad election
The election was followed by an election to the 5th Seanad.
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{reflist}}
Sources
- {{cite book|first=Maurice|last=Manning|author-link=Maurice Manning|date=1972|title=Irish Political Parties: An Introduction|location=Dublin|publisher=Gill & Macmillan|isbn=978-0-7171-0536-6}}
{{Irish elections}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irish General Election, 1944}}