The Dail General Election of August 1923

The Dail General Election of August 1923 Anthony White (bio) The general election to the Fourth Dáil held on 27 August 1923 was significant in several ways. For the first time all Irish women over the age of twenty-one were eligible to vote. Previously only women over thirty could do so. Another important feature of the election was that for the first time since 1800 all geographic constituencies were contested.1 Perhaps most surprisingly in retrospect partition did not figure as a major issue in the election. The Constitution of the Irish Free State formally ratified by the Dáil and the British Parliament in December 1922 required that a general election be held within a year of the ratification of the Constitution.2 The Chairman of the Executive Committee, W. T. Cosgrave, called the election three months earlier than the deadline. The number of seats to be contested rose from 128 in 1922 to 153, while the number of constituencies rose by just two, from 28 to 30. Most constituency representation was enlarged. Galway had nine seats, while Donegal, Dublin North and Dublin County had eight. 34 Sinn Féin TDs had been elected unopposed in 1918; in 1921 all 124 TDs were elected without opposition, and 34 did not face a contest in 1922.3 But on this occasion, 1923, all TDs (except for the three elected by Dublin University graduates) had to face the electorate.4 This was to represent a new pattern that was to characterise all subsequent Irish elections.5 There were 376 candidates for the 153 seats, Galway being the constituency with the highest number at 24. 132 candidates lost their deposit. There were just seven women candidates, of whom five were elected. These were Constance Marckievicz, Mary MacSwiney, Caitlín Brugha, Kathleen Lynn, and Margaret Collins-O'Driscoll. Turnout at the election was 60.3%, to date the lowest in the history of the state. Apart from the still unsettled condition of the country, holidays and harvesting made August a less than ideal month for election canvassing, and it is notable that no subsequent Irish general election has been held in that month. Dublin had the highest turnout at 65.2% with Leinster at 62.2%. Munster was at 62.0% and Connacht/Ulster at 52.3%.6 Turnout was highest at the National University of Ireland (73%), Waterford (70.3%) and Clare (67.4%), the lowest being in Galway (45.7%), Mayo North (48%) and Cork [End Page 354] West (50.6%). 74 outgoing TDs were re-elected, and there were 77 new TDs.7 18 outgoing TDs lost their seats. Of those elected in June 1922 ten had died, including Arthur Griffith and four violently killed in the Civil War – Michael Collins, Cathal Brugha, Harry Boland and Sean Hales. Four had resigned in the period prior to the calling of the election and twenty-two did not contest the election. Cumann na nGaedheal (CG), with 39% of the vote, took 63 seats; republicans, with 27.3%, had 44 seats; Labour had a share of 10.6% and 14 seats; 12.1.% for the Farmers' Party (FP) elected 15 TDs; while independents and smaller parties, with 10.9%, had 17 seats. Large constituencies and the proportional representation system of election ensured that the distribution of seats largely reflected the share of the poll for each party, only Labour and FP gaining fewer seats than their percentage of votes might have warranted. The result saw CG as the largest party but 14 seats short of a majority. Returning to government could have presented a problem save that the main opposition, the republicans, were abstentionists and were committed to not taking their seats in a Dáil whose legitimacy they did not accept. In the Fourth Dáil Labour again took on the role of main opposition party as it had in the Third Dáil. With the FP and independents tending to support the government, CG had little cause to worry about its stability or survival in power in the period to June 1927. The Parties Cumann na nGaedheal (CG) CG was founded as a party in April 1923. It was...