In Ireland, direct elections by universal suffrage are used for the President, the ceremonial head of state; for Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas or parliament; for the European Parliament; and for local government. All elections use proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV) in constituencies returning three or more members, except that the presidential election and by-elections use the single-winner analogue of STV, elsewhere called instant-runoff voting or the alternative vote. Members of Seanad Éireann, the second house of the Oireachtas, are partly nominated, partly indirectly elected, and partly elected by graduates of particular universities.
Coalition governments have been the norm since 1989. Fine Gael (or its predecessor Cumann na nGaedheal) or Fianna Fáil have led every government since independence in 1922. The current government is a coalition of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Independents. Traditionally, the Labour Party was the third party, although since 2016 it has been surpassed by Sinn Féin. Smaller parties and independents exist in the Dáil and more so in local government.
Since 2023, electoral operations and oversight of electoral integrity have been carried out by an independent Electoral Commission.
Eligibility to vote
Entitlement to vote is based on citizenship. Residents of the state who are Irish citizens or British citizens may vote in elections to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (parliament). Residents who are citizens of any EU state may vote in European Parliament elections, while any resident, regardless of citizenship, may vote in local elections.
The right of Irish expatriates to vote is heavily restricted. Only members of the armed forces and diplomatic staff abroad may vote in Dáil elections, while only expatriates who are graduates of the National University of Ireland or Trinity College Dublin may vote in Seanad elections to the university constituencies. +Rights of residents to vote at Irish electionsCitizenshipLocal electionsEuropean electionsDáil ElectionsPresidential electionsReferendumsIrelandUnited KingdomEUOther non-EU
Early voting Military personnel, whether serving at home or abroad, vote by postal ballot. These votes are delivered by a courier service, usually a commercial one, but a military courier is used for ballots cast by Irish troops in Lebanon and Syria. Voters living on islands off the west coast in counties Galway, Mayo, and Donegal traditionally voted two or three days before polling day, but in 2014 the gap was narrowed, when they voted just one day beforehand. Following an amendment to electoral law in 2022, early voting on the islands is allowed only in exceptional circumstances.
General elections
Under the Constitution, the term of a Dáil is a maximum of seven years; statute law, currently the Electoral Act 1992, establishes a lower maximum of five years. The Taoiseach may advise the president to dissolve at any time. If a Taoiseach has ceased to retain the support of the majority of the Dáil, the president may in their absolute discretion refuse to dissolve the Dáil. To date, no president has refused to dissolve the Dáil.
Electoral law provides that the "same Dáil shall not continue for a longer period than five years from the date of its first meeting". When the Dáil is dissolved, the Clerk of the Dáil must issue a writ of election to the returning officer for each constituency. The election must take place on a date set by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage 18 to 25 days (disregarding any excluded day) after the writs have been issued.;
Elections are by single transferable vote (STV), with each constituency returning between three and five deputies, each called a or TD. From 1980, constituencies have been redrawn by an independent Constituency Commission after each census, which was put on a statutory basis in 1997. From 2023, these functions have been carried out by the Electoral Commission.
The erection and removal of campaign posters by candidates is governed by the Litter Pollution Act 1997 and the Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2009.Department of Climate Action and Environment – Election Posters FAQs Posters may only be erected for a certain specified time period before an election. This time period is either (a) 30 days before the poll date or (b) from the date the polling day order for the election has been made, whichever provides the shorter period of time. Posters must be removed within seven days of polling day.
+General elections to Dáil Éireann and resulting Irish governments Polling Date ofnominations Dáil GovernmentDateDay No. TermDays No.HeadParty or parties14 December 1918 Sat 4 Dec 1st 21 January 1919 – 10 May 1921 1st DM/2nd DM Cathal Brugha/Éamon de Valera Sinn Féin 24 May 1921 Tue 13 May 2nd 16 August 1921 – 8 June 1922 394 3rd DM Éamon de Valera Sinn Féin 4th DM Arthur Griffith Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty) 16 Jun 1922 Fri 6 Jun 3rd 9 September 1922 – 9 August 1923 2nd PG/1st EC W. T. Cosgrave Cumann na nGaedheal 27 Aug 1923 Mon 18 Aug 4th 19 September 1923 – 23 May 1927 2nd EC Cumann na nGaedheal 9 Jun 1927 Thu 1 June 5th 23 June 1927 – 25 August 1927 3rd EC Cumann na nGaedheal 15 Sep 1927 Thu 3 Sep 6th 11 October 1927 – 29 January 1932 4th EC /5th EC Cumann na nGaedheal 16 Feb 1932 Tue 8 Feb 7th 9 March 1932 – 2 January 1933 6th EC Éamon de Valera Fianna Fáil 24 Jan 1933 Tue 8th 11 January 1933 – 14 June 1937 7th EC Fianna Fáil 1 Jul 1937 Thu 9th 21 July 1937 – 27 May 1938 8th EC /1st GI Fianna Fáil 17 Jun 1938 Fri 7 June 10th 30 June 1938 – 26 June 1943 2nd GI Fianna Fáil 23 Jun 1943 Wed 9 June 11th 1 July 1943 – 7 June 1944 3rd GI Fianna Fáil 30 May 1944 Tue 19 May 12th 9 June 1944 – 12 January 1948 4th GI Fianna Fáil 4 Feb 1948 Wed 13th 18 February 1948 – 7 May 1951 5th GI John A. Costello 30 May 1951 Wed 17 May 14th 13 June 1951 – 24 April 1954 6th GI Éamon de Valera Fianna Fáil 18 May 1954 Tue 4 May 15th 2 June 1954 – 12 February 1957 7th GI John A. Costello 5 Mar 1957 Tue 21 Feb 16th 20 March 1957 – 15 September 1961 8th/9th GI Éamon de Valera/Seán Lemass Fianna Fáil 4 Oct 1961 Wed 17th 11 October 1961 – 18 March 1965 10th GI Seán Lemass Fianna Fáil 7 Apr 1965 Wed 18th 21 April 1965 – 22 May 1969 11th/12th GI Seán Lemass/Jack Lynch Fianna Fáil 18 Jun 1969 Wed 19th 2 July 1969 – 5 February 1973 13th GI Jack Lynch Fianna Fáil 28 Feb 1973 Wed 20th 14 March 1973 – 25 May 1977 14th GI Liam Cosgrave 16 Jun 1977Thu 21st 5 July 1977 – 21 May 1981 15th/16th GI Jack Lynch/Charles Haughey Fianna Fáil 11 Jun 1981 Thu 22nd 30 June 1981 – 27 January 1982 17th GI Garret FitzGerald 18 Feb 1982 Thu 23rd 9 March 1982 – 4 November 1982 18th GI Charles Haughey Fianna Fáil 24 Nov 1982 Wed 24th 14 December 1982 – 21 January 1987 19th GI Garret FitzGerald 17 Feb 1987 Tue 25th 10 March 1987 – 25 May 1989 20th GI Charles Haughey Fianna Fáil 15 Jun 1989 Thu 26th 29 June 1989 – 5 November 1992 21st/22nd GI Charles Haughey/Albert Reynolds 25 Nov 1992 Wed 27th 14 December 1992 – 15 May 1997 23rd GI Albert Reynolds 24th GI John Bruton 6 Jun 1997 Fri 26 May 28th 26 June 1997 – 25 April 2002 25th GI Bertie Ahern 17 May 2002 Fri 3 May 29th 6 June 2002 – 29 April 2007 26th GI 24 May 2007 Thu 9 May 30th 14 June 2007 – 1 February 2011 27th/28th GI Bertie Ahern/Brian Cowen 25 Feb 2011 Fri 9 Feb 31st 9 March 2011 – 3 February 2016 29th GI Enda Kenny 26 Feb 2016 Fri 11 Feb 32nd 10 March 2016 – 14 January 2020 30th/31st GI Enda Kenny/Leo Varadkar 8 Feb 2020 Sat 22 Jan 33rd 20 February 2020 to 8 November 2024 32nd/33rd GI/34th GI Micheál Martin/Leo Varadkar/Simon Harris 29 Nov 2024 Fri 18 Nov 34th 18 December 2024 35th GI Micheál Martin Footnotes
+Titles of the government and its head Dates Abbr Title of government Head of government 1919–22 DM Dáil Ministry President of Dáil Éireann 1922 PG Provisional Government Chairman of the Provisional Government 1922–37 EC Executive Council of the Irish Free State President of the Executive Council 1937– GI Government of Ireland Taoiseach
Seanad elections Elections to Seanad Éireann take place after the general election to the Dáil. There are sixty members of the Seanad. Of these, eleven are nominated by the Taoiseach appointed next after the dissolution of the Dáil. Six are elected by STV in university constituencies: three for the National University (by graduates) and three for Dublin University (by graduates and scholars of Trinity College Dublin). Forty-three are elected by an electorate of serving politicians (members of the incoming Dáil, the outgoing Seanad, and city and county councillors) for five vocational panels. These elections are also counted using STV, although using a different set of rules on the distribution of surpluses and the order of counts than in other elections in Ireland.
European elections Elections to the European Parliament are held simultaneously across Europe every five years. In Ireland, as for Dáil elections, STV is used in constituencies returning three to five members. Ireland has 14 seats in the European Parliament.
Local elections Elections to county councils, city councils and city and county councils are held every five years and by convention take place on the same day as European elections. Local electoral areas (LEAs) return between three and seven councillors by STV. Until the Local Government Reform Act 2014, elections were also held for borough and town councils. The 2014 Act abolished borough and town councils with their functions transferred to municipal districts of the county councils, comprising the county councillors from the LEA coterminous with the district.
Some members of Údarás na Gaeltachta were directly elected by Gaeltacht residents between 1980 and 2012; since then all have been appointed by the government.
Presidential elections
The President of Ireland is formally elected by the citizens of Ireland once in every seven years, except in the event of premature vacancy, when an election must be held within sixty days. The President is directly elected by secret ballot under the system of the instant-runoff voting (although the Constitution describes it as "the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote"). While both Irish and British citizens resident in the state may vote in Dáil elections, only Irish citizens, who must be at least 18 years of age, may vote in the election of the President. The presidency is open to all citizens of the state who are at least 35. A candidate must be nominated by one of the following:
Twenty members of the Oireachtas (Dáil or Seanad). Four local authorities. Themselves (in the case of an incumbent or former president who has served only one term).
Where only one candidate is nominated, that candidate is declared elected without a ballot. No one may serve as President for more than two terms.
Referendums The Constitution of Ireland was approved by plebiscite on 1 July 1937. The Constitution recognises two types of referendums: On a proposed amendment to the Constitution, for which a referendum is always required, and the amendment is passed by a majority of those voting; An ordinary referendum, on a bill other than an amendment to the Constitution, for which a referendum is only required on petition of Oireachtas members, and the bill is passed by a majority of those to vote.