The
Irish general election of February 1982 was
held on 18 February 1982, three weeks after the
dissolution of the Dáil on 27
January.
The newly elected 166 members of the 23rd Dáil
assembled at Leinster
House
on 9 March when a new Taoiseach and government were
appointed.
The
general election took place in 41
parliamentary constituencies throughout Ireland
for 166 seats in the lower house of parliament,
Dáil Éireann.
Campaign
The first general election of 1982 was caused by the sudden
collapse of the
Fine Gael–
Labour Party coalition government
when the budget was defeated. The
Minister for Finance John Bruton, attempted to put
VAT on children shoes, a measure which was
rejected by some left-wing independent
Teachta Dála (TDs). The
Taoiseach Garret
FitzGerald dissolved the Dáil immediately.
However, while he was
with President Patrick Hillery at Áras an
Uachtaráin
, a number of Fianna
Fáil members attempted to ring the President, urging him not to
grant a dissolution. If the President refused a dissolution,
FitzGerald would have to resign and Fianna Fáil would be invited to
form a government. The attempt to contact the President was highly
unconstitutional, as the President can only take advice from the
Taoiseach. In the event, a dissolution was granted and the general
election campaign began in earnest.
The campaign was largely fought on economic issues. Spending cuts
were a reality for whatever party won, but the scale of the cuts
were played down by all parties. Fine Gael proposed to continue the
policies that it had been implementing while in office. The Fianna
Fáil leader
Charles Haughey
dismissed the need for budget cuts when the campaign first began,
however, the reality soon became apparent and the party adopted
similar policies that involved budget cuts.
Result
- Fianna Fáil minority government formed.
Fianna Fáil emerged as the largest party and looked most likely to
form a government. However, internal divisions within the party
threatened Charles Haughey's nomination for Taoiseach. In the end a
leadership challenge did not take place and Haughey was the party's
nominee for Taoiseach. Haughey gained the support of the
Independent TD
Tony Gregory, the
Independent Fianna Fáil
TD
Neil Blaney and the three
Sinn Féin the Workers Party deputies
and was appointed Taoiseach.
First time TDs
A total of 21 TDs were elected for the first time:
By-elections
Outgoing TDs
See also
References
Wikis
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