Irish general election timetable

This a list of general election timetables for Dáil Éireann from 1918–2011.

Year	Dissolution	Dáil	Nominations	Polling Day	Polling Date	First Meeting
1918	25 November[nb 1]	1st	4 December	Saturday	14 December	21 January 1919
1921	10 May[nb 2]	2nd	13 May	Tuesday	24 May	16 August
1922	8 June[nb 3]	3rd	6 June	Friday	16 June	9 September
1923	9 August	4th	18 August	Monday	27 August	19 September
1927	23 May	5th	1 June	Thursday	9 June	23 June
1927	25 August	6th	3 September	Thursday	15 September	11 October
1932	29 January	7th	8 February	Tuesday	16 February	9 March
1933	2 January	8th	11 January	Tuesday	24 January	8 February
1937	14 June	9th		Thursday	1 July	21 July
1938	27 May	10th	7 June	Friday	17 June	30 June
1943	26 June	11th	9 June	Wednesday	23 June	1 July
1944	10 May	12th	19 May	Tuesday	30 May	9 June
1948	12 January	13th		Wednesday	4 February	18 February
1951	7 May	14th	17 May	Wednesday	30 May	13 June
1954	24 April	15th	4 May	Tuesday	18 May	2 June
1957	12 February	16th	21 February	Tuesday	5 March	20 March
1961	15 September	17th		Wednesday	4 October	11 October
1965	18 March	18th		Wednesday	7 April	21 April
1969	22 May	19th		Wednesday	18 June	2 July
1973	5 February	20th		Wednesday	28 February	14 March
1977	25 May	21st		Thursday	16 June	5 July
1981	21 May	22nd		Thursday	11 June	30 June
1982	27 January	23rd		Thursday	18 February	9 March
1982	4 November	24th		Wednesday	24 November	14 December
1987	21 January	25th		Tuesday	17 February	10 March
1989	25 May	26th		Thursday	15 June	29 June
1992	5 November	27th		Wednesday	25 November	14 December
1997	15 May	28th	26 May	Friday	6 June	26 June
2002	25 April	29th	3 May	Friday	17 May	6 June
2007	29 April	30th	9 May	Thursday	24 May	14 June
2011	1 February	31st	9 February	Friday	25 February	9 March
2016	3 February	32nd		Friday	26 February	10 March

Notes

1. The dissolution is of the 1910–1918 Parliament of the United Kingdom. The polling day relates to the territorial constituencies only. The result in those constituencies were declared on 28 December, to allow time for votes by members of the Armed Forces to be sent to the Returning Officers. The University constituencies voted as follows: University of Dublin polling 16–20 December, declaration 21 December; National University of Ireland polling 18–22 December, declaration 23 December and Queen's University of Belfast polling 16–20 December, declaration 20 December.
2. The dissolution is the date of the last meeting of the First Dáil. A resolution passed at that meeting provided for the Dáil to be dissolved on the assembling of the Second Dáil. The nominations date applied to all constituencies except National University of Ireland whose nominations closed on 14 May 1921.
3. The dissolution is the date of the last meeting of the Second Dáil (at least in the view of the Aireacht – the Government of the Irish Republic). It is not clear when or if that Dáil was formally dissolved for the purposes of the laws of the Irish Republic: There was a dispute between pro and anti Anglo-Irish Treaty members of Sinn Féin about whether the Third Dáil was the legitimate successor of the Second Dáil. A resolution of the Second Dáil, passed on 20 May 1922, provided for a partial general election with the Deputies from the six counties of Northern Ireland continuing in office. The position for the purposes of British law is clear: On 27 May 1922, the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State issued a proclamation calling an election on 16 June 1922 for the "Provisional Parliament pursuant to the Free State (Agreement) Act" and not for the Third Dáil. The Provisional Government's proclamation made no mention of Northern Ireland. Lord Fitzalan, later in the day, declared that the Parliament of Southern Ireland was dissolved and "I hereby call a Parliament to be known as and styled the Provisional Parliament".^[1] The nominations date applied to all constituencies except Dublin University whose nominations closed on 8 June 1922. The polling days for National University of Ireland were 12–15 June 1922, with the declaration being made on 16 June 1922. The date of the first meeting was originally to have been 1 July 1922. The Dáil was prorogued on five occasions and eventually met on 9 September 1922. In practice no representatives from Northern Ireland tried to participate in the Third Dáil, so the provisional government proclamation seems to have prevailed over the Second Dáil resolution.

References

1. Source: Macardle (1999), pg 718 and DCU Website.

Sources

• Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)
• The Times (of London), various editions

External links

• Oireachtas historical debates