The State of the Parties: Dáil Éireann

Updated: 23 December 2012

In the lifetime of any Dáil, parties find their seat numbers falling or rising due to any number of events - deaths, resignations, expulsions and by-elections to name the most frequent. This page will track the state of the parties in Dáil Éireann from now until the next general election.

Fine Gael 

2011 GE: 76 seats
December 2012: 73 seats

Fine Gael has so far managed to maintain its seat level, the only two reductions occurring because of the election of Sean Barrett as Ceann Comhairle and the resignation of Denis Naughton, both in 2011. The tragic death of Meath East TD Shane McEntee in December 2012 resulted in a vacated seat in Meath East.

Event	Seat Change
Sean Barrett (Dún Laoghaire) is elected Ceann Comhairle.	- 1
Denis Naughton (Roscommon-South Leitrim) loses the FG whip.	- 1
Shane McEntee (Meath East) dies.	- 1

Labour Party

2011 GE: 37 seats
December 2012: 33 seats

As is typical for the junior party in a coalition, the Labour Party has seen the steepest drop in its popularity according to opinion polls. The party's troubles have been exacerbated by the resignation of several TDs over various issues. Patrick Nulty brought Labour an extra seat in the Dublin West by-election, only to take it away again when he lost the party whip in protest at measures taken in Budget 2012. Willie Penrose, Tommy Broughan, Róisín Shortall and Colm Keaveney have each also resigned in protest of different measures taken by the Government.

Event	Seat Change
Patrick Nulty wins the Dublin West by-election	+ 1
Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath) resigns from the party.	- 1
Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East) loses the party whip.	- 1
Patrick Nulty (Dublin West) loses the party whip.	- 1
Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West) resigns from the party.	- 1
Colm Keaveney (Galway East) loses the party whip.	- 1

 

Fianna Fáil

2011 GE: 19 seats
December 2012: 19 seats

Out of Government and with a vastly depleted contingent of TDs, Fianna Fáil was bound to be less prone to seat changes. Seamus Kirk's tenure as Ceann Comhairle came to an end with the commencement of the 31st Dáil, bringing the party's total up to 20, as he had been automatically re-elected. This increase was temporary however, as the death of Brian Lenihan on 10 June 2011 returned the party to its previous number. Fianna Fáil failed to win the by-election caused by Lenihan's death.

Event	Seat Change
Seamus Kirk (Cavan-Monaghan) steps down as Ceann Comhairle	+ 1
Brian Lenihan (Dublin West) dies.	- 1

  

Sinn Féin

2011 GE: 14 seats
December 2012: 14 seats

Having won their best Dáil election result in modern times, Sinn Féin's good fortune as so far continued as the party's seat number has not changed at all.

United Left Alliance

2011 GE: 5 seats
December 2012: 4 seats

The United Left Alliance parties had not seen any changes to their totals until August 2012 when Dublin North TD Clare Daly resigned from the Socialist Party.

Event	Seat Change
Clare Daly (Dublin North) resigns from the Socialist Party.	- 1

 

Independents

2011 GE: 14 seats
December 2012: 20 seats 

Each of the aforementioned TDs who either resigned from their parties or lost the whips now sit as Independents, bringing the already unusually high number of unaligned TDs from 14 to 20.

Event	Seat Change
Denis Naughton (Roscommon-South Leitrim) loses the Fine Gael whip.	+ 1
Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath) resigns from the Labour Party.	+ 1
Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East) loses the Labour Party whip.	+ 1
Patrick Nulty (Dublin West) loses the Labour Party whip.	+ 1
Clare Daly (Dublin North) resigns from the Socialist Party.	+ 1
Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West) resigns from the Labour Party.	+ 1
Colm Keaveney (Galway East) loses the Labour Party whip.	+ 1