Irish general election, 1965
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Template:Politics of the Republic of Ireland The Irish general election of 1965 was held on April 7, 1965. The newly elected 144 members of the 18th Dáil assembled at Leinster House on April 21 when the new Taoiseach and government were appointed.
The general election took place in 42 parliamentary constituencies throughout the Republic of Ireland for 144 seats in the lower house of parliament, Dáil Éireann.
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Campaign
The general election of 1965 was caused by the loss of a by-election for the ruling Fianna Fáil party. The victory for Eileen Desmond of the Labour Party in Mid Cork led to an unacceptable mathematical situation with regard to the government's majority. The Taoiseach, Seán F. Lemass immediately dissolved the Dáil and the campaign began in earnest.
Fianna Fáil ran its campaign on its record in government. Over the last number of years the economy had seen a huge improvement and the party played up on its record in government. The party also played up heavily on the personality of the party leader with the slogan "Let Lemass Lead On." The Fine Gael party put forward a comprehensive manifesto, which included the establishment of a government department concerned with economic planning. However, the older, conservative members of the party didn't warm to the new turn the party was taking.
Results
The results were as follows:
| Party | Leader | Seats | First Preferences | |||
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| # of Seats | Gain/Loss | % of Dáil | # of Votes | % | ||
| Fianna Fáil | Seán F. Lemass | 72 | +2 | 50 | 47.8 | |
| Fine Gael | James Dillon | 47 | +0 | 32.63 | 33.9 | |
| Labour Party | Brendan Corish | 22 | +6 | 15.27 | 15.4 | |
| Independents | 3 | -3 | 0.21 | 2.9 | ||
| Others | 0 | -5 | ||||
| 144 | 0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |||
The general election gave Fianna Fáil an extra two seats, and with it an absolute majority in the Dáil. Seán F. Lemass continues as Taoiseach. James Dillon resigns as leader of Fine Gael immediately after the result is announced.
First time TDs
Retiring TDs
See also
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