General Election (Republic of Ireland) 2011

Abstract

The 2011 general election resulted in one of the most dramatic shifts in Irish party politics since the foundation of the State. A series of events and decisions made by the Fianna Fáil-led coalition government saw the country plunge into an unprecedented economic recession. The collapse of the government began a ‘sea change’ general election campaign. The campaign varied greatly from previous elections. A record number of candidates stood for the election. There was a major surge in numbers of independent candidates and those who had never previously run for office. General election 2011 was dominated by national policy issues, in a deviation from the localist nature of previous elections. The central focus of the campaign was a series of televised leaders' debates, the format of which differed greatly from those of previous Irish campaigns. The outcome of the election broadly reflected the results of the opinion polls that had been conducted in the months and weeks preceding polling day. Although Fine Gael did not win enough seats for a single-party government, the result for the party was an historic high and they entered coalition with the Labour Party. However, it was the collapse of the Fianna Fáil Party that was the major talking point of the election. Voters deserted the party in numbers and it ended up with just 20 TDs, its lowest level ever.

Keywords:

• ‘Earthquake’ election
• Fianna Fáil
• Fine Gael
• Enda Kenny
• Brian Cowen
• Eamon Gilmore
• Independents
• TV debates

Notes

According to the Standards in Public Office, in order to be eligible for reimbursement a candidate must be (i) elected; or (ii) if not elected, have exceeded one-quarter of the quota in the constituency at any stage of the counting of votes.