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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 the Green Party. Traditionally, the Labour Party was the third party, although since 2016 it has been surpassed by Sinn Féin, and since 2020 by the Green Party. 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 elections

Citizenship	Local elections	European elections	Dáil Elections	Presidential elections	Referendums
Ireland	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
United Kingdom	Y	N	Y	N	N
EU	Y	Y	N	N	N
Other non-EU	Y	N	N	N	N

1. British citizens lost the right to vote in European elections after Brexit.

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 Teachta Dála 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. 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 7 days of polling day.

Footnotes

1. See table for the government title corresponding to each abbreviation.
2. See table for the title of the head of government.
3. Territorial constituencies only; in those the results were declared on 28 Dec, to allow time for votes by members of the British Armed Forces to be sent to the returning officers. The university constituencies voted as follows: Dublin University polling 16–20 Dec, declaration 21 Dec; National University polling 18–22 Dec, declaration 23 Dec and Queen's University of Belfast polling 16–20 Dec, declaration 20 Dec.
4. The 30th Parliament of the United Kingdom, convened after the December 1910 election, was dissolved on 25 November 1918.
5. Last meeting of the First Dáil. A resolution passed at that meeting provided for the First Dáil to be dissolved on the assembling of the Second Dáil.
6. ^ De Valera (2nd) replaced Brugha (1st) on 1 April 1919.
7. Except National University of Ireland, where nominations closed on 14 May 1921
8. Last meeting of the Second Dáil. A meeting scheduled for 30 Jun 1922 was preempted by the outbreak of the Civil War. The Second Dáil was never formally dissolved and Irish republican legitimists have regarded it as de jure continuing while the Third Dáil was illegitimate.
9. De Valera resigned on 7 January 1922 after losing the Anglo-Irish Treaty Dáil vote. Griffith's pro-Treaty ministry was formed on 10 January.
10. The polling days for National University of Ireland were 12–15 Jun 1922, with the declaration being made on 16 Jun 1922.
11. Except Dublin University, where nominations closed on 8 Jun 1922.
12. Originally to have been 1 July 1922. The Dáil was prorogued on five occasions and eventually met on 9 Sep 1922.
13. ^ The 1st Provisional Government with Michael Collins as chairman was formed on 14 January 1922, without reference to the then Second Dáil. Collins was killed on 22 August 1922 and Cosgrave's Provisional Government formed on 30 August, after the June election to the Third Dáil but before its first meeting in September.
14. On 6 December 1922, the Free State constitution came into force. The provisional government ceased to exit and the first Executive Council was appointed.
15. Cumann na nGaedheal was founded in early 1923, before which Cosgrave's pro-Treaty government was not affiliated to any party, Sinn Féin having ceased to function.
16. On 27 March 1930, the Executive Council resigned. On 2 April, Cosgrave was appointed again as President of the Executive Council and appointed a new Executive Council with the same membership.
17. The Constitution of Ireland came into force on 29 December 1937, with the former Free State's final executive council and president becoming the first government of Ireland and Taoiseach.
18. Exceptionally, because of the state of emergency arising from the Second World War, the 10th Dáil was not dissolved until after all the returns to the Clerk of the Dáil from all constituencies of the election.
19. National Labour merged back into the Labour Party in 1950.
20. ^ De Valera's 8th government was succeeded by Lemass's 9th in 1959.
21. ^ Lemass's 11th government was succeeded by Lynch's 12th in 1966.
22. ^ In 1979 Haughey (16th) succeeded Lynch (15th)
23. Labour Party left government on 20 January 1987.
24. ^ On 11 February 1992 Reynolds (22nd) succeeded Haughey (21st)
25. Progressive Democrats left government on 4 November 1992.
26. Labour Party left government on 15 November 1994.
27. On 15 December 1994 the 24th government replaced the 23rd. This has been the only occasion on which there was a change in the government parties without a general election.
28. ^ On 7 May 2008 Cowen (28th) replaced Ahern (27th)
29. Green Party left government on 23 January 2011.
30. The Progressive Democrats were dissolved in 2009 and their ministers and other TDs sat as independents thereafter.
31. ^ On 14 Jun 2017 Varadkar (31st) succeeded Kenny (30th).
32. ^ On 17 December 2022 Varadkar (32nd) succeeded Martin (33rd). On 9 April 2024, Harris (34th) succeeded Varadkar

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 eighteen 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 eligible to vote.

There have been 38 referendums for amendments to the Constitution of Ireland. There have been no ordinary referendums. Since 2023, the Electoral Commission provides neutral information to the public on each amendment. An organisation can register with the commission as an "approved body" in order to campaign publicly for or against the proposal, and to have monitors in polling stations and counting agents at count centres. From 1998 to 2019, this function was carried out by a Referendum Commission established for each referendum.

For a proposal to change the name of a place, a plebiscite is required. The current 1956 Regulations on conducting such plebiscites relate to a postal vote of ratepayers; in 2019 the relevant electorate was changed from ratepayers to local electors, but as of 16 January 2020 the regulations have not been updated accordingly. In a County Cork town, Charleville was chosen in a 1989 four-option plebiscite ahead of Ráth Luirc, An Rath, and Rathgoggan. The Official Languages Act 2003 prevented the plebiscite provision applying to places in the Gaeltacht, and so a 2005 plebiscite to change the name of Dingle, County Kerry was ruled invalid; in 2011, the 2003 Act was amended to remove the restriction.

Other local plebiscites include three in 2019 on whether to establish directly-elected mayors for Cork City Council, Limerick City and County Council and Waterford City and County Council, of which only that for Limerick was passed.

Party positions on past amendments

Party	same-sex marriage	abortion	Repeal of blasphemy laws	divorces	(The Family) Bill and (Care) Bill
Fianna Fáil	Y	Neutral	Y	Y	Y
Sinn Féin	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Fine Gael	Y	Neutral	Y	Y	Y
Green	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Labour	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y}
Social Democrats	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
PBP–Solidarity	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
The National Party		N			N

See also

• Voting system
• Dáil vote for Taoiseach
• Politics of the Republic of Ireland
• Elections in Northern Ireland

References

1. "System seems complicated but your vote really does matter". Irish Independent. 23 May 2014.
2. Phelan, John Paul (6 March 2019). "European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage – Seanad Éireann (25th Seanad)". Oireachtas. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
3. "European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2019". Irish Statute Book. §§ 2, 9. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
4. "Our peacekeepers among first to cast votes". Irish Independent. 23 May 2014.
5. "Defence Forces helicopter glitch delays island poll". Irish Independent. 23 May 2014.
6. Electoral Reform Act 2022, s. 200: Part 8: Polling on Islands (No. 30 of 2022, s. 200). Enacted on 25 July 2022. Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 14 February 2023.
7. Electoral Act 1992, s. 33: Maximum duration of Dáil (No. 23 of 1992, s. 33). Enacted on 5 November 1992. Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 28 March 2020.
8. Electoral Act 1992, s. 33: Maximum duration of Dáil (No. 23 of 1992, s. 33). Enacted on 5 November 1992. Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 8 June 2021.
9. Electoral Act 1992, s. 39: Issue and return of writs (No. 23 of 1992, s. 39). Enacted on 5 November 1992. Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 8 June 2021.
10. Electoral Act 1992, s. 96: Times of poll (No. 23 of 1992, s. 96). Enacted on 5 November 1992. Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 8 June 2021.; Electoral (Amendment) Act 2001, s. 23: Amendment of section 96 of Principal Act (No. 38 of 2001, s. 23). Enacted on 24 October 2001. Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 8 June 2021.
11. "Dáil Éireann". Citizens Information. 30 August 2023. Archived from the original on 18 March 2024. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
12. "Constitution of Ireland". Irish Statute Book. January 2020. Archived from the original on 23 April 2022. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
13. Department of Climate Action and Environment - Election Posters FAQs
14. "Dáil and Seanad Terms". Houses of the Oireachtas. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
15. "Mr. de Valera to be Taoiseach". The Irish Times. p. 1.
16. de Valera, Éamon (26 May 1943). "The General Election: Announcement by Taoiseach". pp. Vol.90 No.5 p.19 c.562. Retrieved 17 March 2020. the Dáil will rise to–day. ... It is my intention to advise the President so that on the 31st May he may issue his direction for the holding of a general election. His proclamation may be issued on the 31st May. ... the 22nd June will be the polling day and then the outgoing Dáil, the present Dáil, would have to be dissolved not later than 8th July. The House is aware that it will be dissolved as soon as the Clerk of the Dáil is able to inform us that he has got returns for all the writs.
17. "Dáil dissolved". The Irish Times. 8 June 1944. p. 3.
18. "Seanad Electoral (University Members) Act 1937, Third Schedule: Counting of the Votes". Irish Statute Book. 19 November 1937. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
19. "Seanad Electoral (University Members) Act 1937, Section 7: Franchise". Irish Statute Book. 19 November 1937. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
20. "Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947, Section 44: The electorate". Irish Statute Book. 19 December 1947. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
21. "Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947, Second Schedule: Counting of the Votes". Irish Statute Book. 19 December 1947. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
22. "European Parliament Elections Act 1997, Schedule 2: Rules for the conduct of the election, etc., Rule 85". Irish Statute Book. 13 November 1995. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
23. "Local Elections Regulations 1995, Regulation 83: Transfer of Surplus". Irish Statute Book. 19 November 1937. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
24. "Údarás na Gaeltachta Act, 1979, Section 29". Irish Statute Book. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
25. "Gaeltacht Act 2012, Schedule". Irish Statute Book. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
26. ^ "Local Government Act 2001 Revised". Revised Acts. Law Reform Commission. 16 April 2019. p. §§189–190 . Retrieved 22 February 2020.
27. Local Government (Changing of Place Names) Regulations 1956 (S.I. No. 31 of 1956). Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 19 April 2018.; "Proposed Change Of Name Of A Locality (Palmerston Village To Palmerstown Village)" (PDF). South Dublin County Council. 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2018. In accordance with Section 79 of the Local Government Act 1946 and the Local Government (Changing of Place Names Regulations) 1956 (as amended by Section 67 of Local Government Act 1994); Brophy, Daragh (13 January 2015). "Palmerston or Palmerstown? … Residents have voted on a name change". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
28. "Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011". Irish Statute Book. 16 January 2020. SIs made under the Act. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
29. Hogan, Dick (11 December 1989). "King Charles wins handsome majority". p. 4.
30. Ferrie, Liam (17 December 1989). "Bits and Pieces". The Irish Emigrant. Archived from the original on 26 May 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2015. The people of the north Cork town of Rath Luirc (or Charleville, or An Rath, or Rathgoggan) have voted to use the name Charleville for their town. Road signs in the area will be replaced.
31. Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011, s. 48 (No. 20 of 2011, s. 48). Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 20 April 2018.; "Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011: Instruction to Committee". Dáil Debates – Vol.739 No.4 p.22. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
32. ^
33. ^
35. ^
36. ^
41. ^
46. ^

External links

• Citizens Information: Elections and referenda
• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• Parties and elections
• NSD: European Election Database – Ireland Archived 23 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1992–2007
• ElectionsIreland.org, produced in association with Seán Donnelly, author of various books on Irish elections
• Ireland Election - Irish Election Results - General, Local, Presidential, Referendum

v t e Elections and referendums in the Republic of Ireland
Dáil elections	1918 1921 1922 1923 1927 (Jun) 1927 (Sep) 1932 1933 1937 1938 1943 1944 1948 1951 1954 1957 1961 1965 1969 1973 1977 1981 1982 (Feb) 1982 (Nov) 1987 1989 1992 1997 2002 2007 2011 2016 2020 2024 By-elections
Seanad elections	1925
Presidential elections	1938 1945 1952 1959 1966 1973 1974 1976 1983 1990 1997 2004 2011 2018 2025
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
Local elections	1920 1925 1928 1934 1942 1945 1950 1955 1960 1967 1974 1979 1985 1991 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
Referendums	1937 1959 1968 1972 (May) 1972 (Dec) 1979 1983 1984 1986 1987 1992 (Jun) 1992 (Nov) 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2001 2002 (Mar) 2002 (Oct) 2004 2008 2009 2011 2012 (May) 2012 (Nov) 2013 2015 2018 (May) 2018 (Oct) 2019 2024
See also: Elections in the Kingdom of Ireland Elections in Ireland as part of the UK

• Elections in the Republic of Ireland
• Republic of Ireland politics-related lists