A Dáil by-election was held in the constituency of National University of Ireland in the Irish Free State on Saturday, 25 October 1923, to fill a vacancy in the 4th Dáil due to Eoin MacNeill of Cumann na nGaedheal being elected for another constituency.
At the 1923 general election, Eoin MacNeill was elected as a TD for both Clare and for the National University of Ireland (NUI). He chose to sit for Clare, vacating his seat for the NUI on 3 October 1923. This was in accordance with section 55 of the Electoral Act 1923.
NUI was a 3-seat constituency to which those who had received a degree other than an honorary degree from the National University of Ireland were eligible to vote if they were not registered to vote in another constituency. A government motion to issue the writ of election to fill the vacancy was agreed on 11 October 1923.
The Cumann na nGaedheal candidate, Patrick McGilligan, had contested North Derry at the 1918 general election and the 1919 North Derry by-election for Sinn Féin; on both occasions, he was defeated by the Ulster Unionist Party candidate. The Republican candidate, William Stockley, was a former TD who had been elected for NUI at the uncontested 1921 election and the contested 1922 general election. He was defeated at the 1923 general election.
Result The by-election was held on 3 November and was won by Patrick McGilligan. The Irish Times reported that "little or no public interest was manifested in the proceedings".
Later career McGilligan represented NUI until its abolition as a Dáil constituency at the 1937 general election. At that election, he was elected for Dublin North-West, which he represented until 1948. At the 1948 general election, he was elected for Dublin North-Central, which he represented until his defeat at the 1965 general election. He would serve as Minister for Industry and Commerce, Minister for External Affairs, Minister for Finance, and as Attorney General.
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