30th Dáil

The Dáil, or Dáil Éireann (pronouned [d̪ˠaːlʲ ˈeːrʲən̪ˠ]), is the lower house of the Irish bicameral parliament. The upper house, the Senate, or Seanad Éireann (Template:IPA2) and the Dáil together form the parliament, known as the Oireachtas (Template:IPA2). The "30th Dáil" is so called because it will be the 30th to sit since the foundation of the state.

Dáil Éireann (usually just called "the Dáil") has 166 members or Teachtaí Dála ("Teachta Dála", pronounced Template:IPA2, is the singular form, abbreviated to "TD"), each elected to represent one of 43 multi-seat constituencies under the system of proportional representation by means of the Single Transferable Vote.

Under the constitution, parliamentary elections must be held at least every seven years, though a lower limit may be set by statute law. The current statutory maximum term is every five years.

The government in the 29th Dáil consisted of a coalition of two parties: Fianna Fáil under Taoiseach Bertie Ahern; and the Progressive Democrats under Tánaiste Michael McDowell. The main opposition parties in the 29th Dáil consisted of Fine Gael and Labour. Smaller parties such as the Green Party, Sinn Féin and the Socialist Party were also represented in the previous Dáil.

On Sunday 29th April, 2007, Taoiseach Ahern called a general election to elect the 30th Dáil. By the close of nominations for election, on Wednesday 9th May 2007, 466 candidates had declared their candidacy for election for the 165 seats available (the sitting Chairperson, or Ceann Comhairle, is returned automatically).

Opinion polls indicated that the election to the 30th Dáil would be an extremely close affair.

The election took place on Thursday 24th May, 2007, with the count of ballots beginning the following day, Friday 25th.

Pre-election alliances

The government coalition parties of the 29th Dáil, Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats, had a joint electoral pact and sought re-election together. The two main opposition parties, Fine Gael and the Labour Party, also declared a pact and sought vote transfers (possible under the Single Transferable Vote system) between their respective candidates. The Green Party were invited to join this pact, but opted to wait until after the results of the election were known before committing to either coalition. All the major parties stated that they would not enter coalition with Sinn Féin, due to differences in economic policies.

Results

An exit poll, conducted on behalf of Radio Telefís Éireann on election day, demonstrated a late swing towards Fianna Fáil, but still predicted a close result. Counting of ballots began on Friday 25th May, 2007 and concluded in the early hours of Sunday morning, 27th May.

In general terms, there was a swing towards the larger parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, with what is being described as a "squeeze" effecting the fortunes of the smaller parties and independents. A predicted large increase in the number of Sinn Féin's TDs failed to materialise, and they in fact lost a seat. In particular, the smaller governing coalition partner, the Progressive Democrats, saw a large drop in support, dropping six seats from eight to two. Their party leader, deputy leader and president all failed to be returned. The Socialist Party lost its one seat.

Individually significant results included:

• Michael McDowell, the sitting Tanáiste, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and leader of the Progressive Democrats, lost his seat. He immediately announced that he was retiring from politics and public life.
• Joe Higgins, leader of the Socialist Party (and that party's only TD) lost his seat.

Constituencies

Since the prior general election of 2002, various changes have been made to constituencies and their boundaries. These changes include the addition of one new constituency (bringing the total to 43), and increasing and/or decreasing the numbers of seats available in others. A direct comparison with the 2002 election results is therefore not entirely valid, and has been omitted.

On Wednesday 16th May, 2007, a High Court challenge was brought by two sitting TDs to challenge the validity of the constituency changes brought about by the most recent Electoral Amendment Act. The case's outcome had no effect on the constituency boundaries or number of seats available in the election. The final ruling issued in the case on Thursday, 7th June, 2007. Ruling that the constituencies were valid, Mr Justice Frank Clark nonetheless called for the Oireachtas ro review constituency boundaries and following the review, to amend 1997 Electoral Act

Constituency	Number of seats (2007)	Result (2007)
		FF	FG	Lab.	PD	SF	Grn	Soc.	Other
Carlow-Kilkenny	5	3	1				1
Cavan-Monaghan	5	3	1			1
Clare	4	2	2
Cork East	4	2	1	1
Cork North Central	4	2	1	1
Cork North West	3	2	1
Cork South Central	5	2	2	1
Cork South West	3	1	2
Donegal North East	3	1	2
Donegal South West	3	2	1
Dublin Central	4	2		1					1
Dublin Mid West	4	1		1	1		1
Dublin North	4	2	1				1
Dublin North Central	3	1	1						1
Dublin North East	3	1	1	1
Dublin North West	3	2		1
Dublin South	5	2	2				1
Dublin South Central	5	2	1	1		1
Dublin South East	4	1	1	1			1
Dublin South West	4	2	1	1
Dublin West	3	1	1	1
Dún Laoghaire	5	2	1	1			1
Galway East	4	2	2
Galway West	5	2	1	1	1
Kerry North	3	1	1			1
Kerry South	3	2							1
Kildare North	4	2	1	1
Kildare South	3	2		1
Laois-Offaly	5	3	2
Limerick East	5	2	2	1
Limerick West	3	2	1
Longford-Westmeath	4	2	1	1
Louth	4	2	1			1
Mayo	5	1	3						1
Meath East	3	2	1
Meath West	3	2	1
Roscommon-South Leitrim	3	1	2
Sligo-North Leitrim	3	2	1
Tipperary North	3	1	1						1
Tipperary South	3	2	1
Waterford	4	2	1	1
Wexford	5	2	2	1
Wicklow	5	2	2	1
Totals	166	78	51	20	2	4	6	0	5

Key:
FF: Fianna Fáil
FG: Fine Gael
Lab.: Labour
PD: Progressive Democrats
SF: Sinn Féin
Grn.: Green Party
Soc.: Socialist Party
Other: Independents and/or members of small parties not listed above.

Composition of the Dáil

Party	June 2002 (elected to 29th Dáil)	April 2007 (changes since election)	May 2007 (elected to 30th Dáil)
Fianna Fáil	82	79	78
Fine Gael	31	32	51
Labour Party	20	21	20
Progressive Democrats	8	8	2
Green Party	6	6	6
Sinn Féin	5	5	4
Socialist	1	1	0
Independents	13	14	5} Formation of government As no single party or pre-declared coalition achieved the 83 seats needed for a majority, negotiations to secure support for a viable government began almost immediately after the final results were known. Enda Kenny TD, leader of the Fine Gael party, proposed a coalition consisting of FG, Labour, the Greens, the PDs and independents, but this scenario was widely seen as being unlikely, given the ideological differences between the various parties. Numerically, Bertie Ahern's Fianna Fáil party could have formed a coalition government with the support of just the two PD TDs and a number of independents. However, in addition to securing the support of some independents and the PDs, Fianna Fáil also opened ten days of negotiations with the Green Party. Formal talks broke down on Friday 8th June, but resumed after informal discussions over the weekend. Eventually a deal was hammered out, and, as mandated by their constitution, on Wednesday 13th June, the Green Party put a proposal to party members (in a day-long conference held in Dublin's Mansion House) that they should enter government. The proposal was passed by over 86% of those voting. The Green's leader, Trevor Sargent, TD, had, prior to the election, announced that he personally did not favour entering power with Fianna Fáil. Following the Green Party vote, he stood down as party leader. External links Government The Oireachtas website Oireachtas live and recorded webcasts Government website Political news and media Election coverage by The Irish Times Independent coverage of Irish elections The Irish Examiner newspaper The Irish Indpendent newspaper The Irish Times newspaper Political news and forum Radio Telefís Éireann - national broadcaster's news site Political parties Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Green Party Labour Party Progressive Democrats Sinn Féin References