General Election, 16th June 1977 General Election, 16th June 197721st DAIL (148 DEPUTIES)
Others include : Sinn Fein the Workers Party ; the Communist Party of Ireland ; the Irish Republican Socialist Party; and non - party candidates
Turnout 76%
Number of women elected - 6 (4%)
Elected for Clare : Brendan Daly (FF), Sylvester Barrett (FF),
Francis Taylor (FG)
Election follows 1974 revision of constituencies
18 year-olds vote in their first ever general election, representing one-fifth of the electorate
Economy main issue as inflation soars in wake of Arab-Israeli War, and growing unemployment at 110,000 plus
Labour election slogan "Good government in tough times"
Of six women elected, three, Eileen Lemass, Joan Burke and Eileen Desmond, are widows of former Dail deputies
FF contests election on economic manifesto drafted by TCD economist Dr Martin O’Donoghue. Urging a Buy Irish campaign, FF proposes abolishing ground rents and motor tax. Party slogan : "Priming the pump"
FF election song "Your Kind of Country", performed by Colm T Wilkinson, banned on CIE buses
Three outgoing Coalition Ministers lose their seats : Conor Cruise O’Brien (Posts and Telegraphs), Paddy Cooney (Justice) and Justin Keating (Industry and Commerce)
Amongst deputies elected for the first time are Bertie Ahern (FF), Niall Andrews (FF), Austin Deasy (FG), Sean Doherty (FF), Padraig Flynn (FF), Michael Keating (FG), Charlie McCreevy (FF), Jim Mitchell (FG), Rory O’Hanlon (FF), Jim O’Keeffe (FG), Senator Ruairi Quinn (Lab), Albert Reynolds (FF) and Michael Woods (FF)
Mary Robinson (Lab, Dublin Rathmines West) fails to win seat by margin of 480 votes
Sile de Valera (FF, Dublin Co Mid) becomes youngest member of new Dail at 22 years of age
FG election slogan "Now you’ve got a good government, keep it"
Media pundits predict "photo finish", especially in wake of revised constituencies ; short bookies odds suggest Coalition victory likely
Final election result : FF 84, FG 43, Lab 17, Others 4
FF win 20-seat overall majority ; 5 July : Lynch elected Taoiseach for third time, George Colley Tanaiste
"Not for the first time has this party stood between the
people of this country and anarchy. And remember, those
people who comment so freely - some of them aren’t even Irish. No
doubt many of you are familiar with an
expression in some parts of the country where an outsider is described
as a blow-in. Now as far as we’re concerned
they can blow out or blow up."
- Liam Cosgrave, FG leader, at party’s Ard Fheis
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