Limerick West (Dáil constituency)

Limerick West was a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas from 1948 to 2011. The constituency elected 3 deputies (Teachtaí Dála, commonly known as TDs). The method of election was the single transferable vote form of proportional representation (PR-STV).

Limerick West
Former Dáil Éireann Parliamentary Constituency
Location of Limerick West within Ireland
Former constituency
Created	1948
Abolished	2011
Seats	3
County/City council	County Limerick

History and boundaries

The constituency was created under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1947 for the 1948 general election. It succeeded the constituency of Limerick, which was divided between Limerick West and Limerick East. It was located in the western and southern part of County Limerick. It was a rural constituency, including the towns of Abbeyfeale, Askeaton, Newcastle West and Rathkeale.[1]

In some elections, such as in 1981 and 1982, only Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael candidates appeared on the ballot. A Progressive Democrats candidate was elected in 1987; this was the only time a candidate from a party other than Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael was elected in the constituency. No candidate from a left-wing party was ever elected there.

At the 2011 general election the constituency was replaced by the constituencies of Limerick and Kerry North–West Limerick.[2] The western part of the constituency became part of Kerry North–West Limerick, while the remainder, along with most of the rural parts of Limerick East, was transferred to the Limerick constituency.[3]

TDs

Teachtaí Dála (TDs) for Limerick West 1948–2011[4]
Key to parties   FF = Fianna Fáil   FG = Fine Gael   PD = Progressive Democrats
Dáil	Election	Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)
13th	1948[5]		James Collins (FF)		Donnchadh Ó Briain (FF)		David Madden (FG)
14th	1951[6]
15th	1954[7]
	1955 by-election[8]						Michael Colbert (FF)
16th	1957[9]						Denis Jones (FG)
17th	1961[10]
18th	1965[11]
	1967 by-election[12]		Gerry Collins (FF)
19th	1969[13]				Michael J. Noonan (FF)
20th	1973[14]
21st	1977[15]						William O'Brien (FG)
22nd	1981[16]
23rd	1982 (Feb)[17]
24th	1982 (Nov)[18]
25th	1987[19]						John McCoy (PD)
26th	1989[20]						Michael Finucane (FG)
27th	1992[21]
28th	1997[22]		Michael Collins (FF)		Dan Neville (FG)
29th	2002[23]						John Cregan (FF)
30th	2007[24]		Niall Collins (FF)
31st	2011	Constituency abolished. See Limerick and Kerry North–West Limerick

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

Elections

2007 general election

2007 general election: Limerick West[24]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3
	Fianna Fáil	Niall Collins	25.7	10,396
	Fianna Fáil	John Cregan	21.5	8,701	8,823	10,355
	Fine Gael	Dan Neville	20.6	8,314	8,504	10,018
	Fine Gael	Michael Finucane	19.4	7,839	7,975	9,027
	Labour Party	James Heffernan	5.6	2,277	2,687
	Progressive Democrats	Michael Brennan	4.8	1,935	1,993
	Green Party	James Nix	2.4	969
Electorate: 58,712   Valid: 40,431   Spoilt: 381 (0.9%)   Quota: 10,108   Turnout: 40,812 (69.5%)

2002 general election

In the final count Dan Neville beat Michael Finucane by only one vote to win the last seat.

2002 general election: Limerick West[23]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4
	Fianna Fáil	John Cregan	30.3	10,823
	Fianna Fáil	Michael J. Collins	23.1	8,236	9,526
	Fine Gael	Dan Neville	20.9	7,446	7,678	7,862	8,564
	Fine Gael	Michael Finucane	20.8	7,410	7,684	7,867	8,563
	Green Party	Marcus Briody	2.7	948	1,002	1,138
	Independent	Mike MacDomhnaill	1.9	662	710	789
	Christian Solidarity	Patrick O'Riordan	0.4	144	151	177
Electorate: 53,879   Valid: 35,669   Spoilt: 476 (1.3%)   Quota: 8,918   Turnout: 36,145 (67.1%)

1997 general election

1997 general election: Limerick West[25]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7
	Fine Gael	Dan Neville	20.9	7,026	7,062	7,265	7,672	8,253	8,601
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Collins	20.8	6,985	7,029	7,357	7,519	8,236	11,692
	Fine Gael	Michael Finucane	16.3	5,476	5,523	5,679	6,170	6,673	6,923	7,330
	Fianna Fáil	John Clifford	11.7	3,921	3,953	4,255	4,337	4,937
	Independent	Michael Brennan	10.9	3,661	3,695	3,890	4,067	4,946	5,474	6,583
	Independent	John Gallahue	10.0	3,355	3,413	3,521	3,689
	Labour Party	Mary Kelly	4.2	1,418	1,478	1,584
	Progressive Democrats	Jeanette McDonnell	4.2	1,406	1,444
	Independent	Mike MacDomhnaill	1.1	366
Electorate: 47,859   Valid: 33,614   Spoilt: 365 (1.1%)   Quota: 8,404   Turnout: 33,979 (71.0%)

1992 general election

1992 general election: Limerick West[21]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Gerry Collins	10,913	34.3	1	1
	Fine Gael	Michael Finucane	5,164	16.2	3	7
	Fine Gael	Dan Neville	4,657	14.6
	Fianna Fáil	Michael J. Noonan	4,173	13.1	2	7
	Labour Party	Mary Kelly	3,447	10.8
	Progressive Democrats	Seán Liston	2,343	7.4
	Independent	Bridget Randles	645	2.0
	Sinn Féin	Coireall MacCurtain	346	1.1
	Independent	John Fitzgibbon	129	0.4
Electorate: 44,848   Valid: 31,817   Spoilt: 524 (1.6%)   Quota: 7,955   Turnout: 32,341 (72.1%)

1989 general election

1989 general election: Limerick West[20]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Gerry Collins	12,476	39.7	1	1
	Fine Gael	Michael Finucane	8,484	27.0	2	1
	Fianna Fáil	Michael J. Noonan	6,491	20.7	3	2
	Progressive Democrats	Seán Liston	3,960	12.6
Electorate: 43,690   Valid: 31,411   Spoilt: 481 (1.5%)   Quota: 7,853   Turnout: 31,892 (73.0%)

1987 general election

1987 general election: Limerick West[19]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Gerry Collins	10,812	31.8	1	1
	Fianna Fáil	Michael J. Noonan	6,631	19.5	2
	Progressive Democrats	John McCoy	6,580	19.4	3
	Fine Gael	Jim Houlihan	3,352	9.9
	Fine Gael	Michael Finucane	3,218	9.5
	Fine Gael	Dan Neville	2,894	8.5
	Labour Party	Paudge Brennan	519	1.5
Electorate: ?   Valid: 34,006   Quota: 8,502   Turnout:

November 1982 general election

November 1982 general election: Limerick West[18]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Gerry Collins	12,719	40.0	1	1
	Fine Gael	William O'Brien	8,435	26.5	2	1
	Fianna Fáil	Michael J. Noonan	7,061	22.2	3
	Fine Gael	Brendan Danaher	3,580	11.3
Electorate: ?   Valid: 31,795   Quota: 7,949   Turnout:

February 1982 general election

February 1982 general election: Limerick West[17]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Gerry Collins	12,702	40.1	1
	Fine Gael	William O'Brien	8,390	26.5	2
	Fianna Fáil	Michael J. Noonan	7,535	23.8	3
	Fine Gael	Seán Broderick	3,088	9.7
Electorate: ?   Valid: 31,715   Quota: 7,929   Turnout:

1981 general election

1981 general election: Limerick West[16]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2
	Fianna Fáil	Gerry Collins	44.5	14,776
	Fine Gael	William O'Brien	26.2	8,676
	Fianna Fáil	Michael J. Noonan	19.8	6,579	12,731
	Fine Gael	Donal Sheehan	9.5	3,158	3,484
Electorate: 41,097   Valid: 33,189   Spoilt: 387 (1.2%)   Quota: 8,298   Turnout: 33,576 (81.7%)

1977 general election

1977 general election: Limerick West[15]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3
	Fianna Fáil	Gerry Collins	30.2	10,081
	Fianna Fáil	Michael J. Noonan	29.2	9,749
	Fine Gael	William O'Brien	22.7	7,596	8,153	8,887
	Fine Gael	Ailish Jones Cassidy	9.5	3,165	3,526	3,775
	Labour Party	Edward Dwyer	4.3	1,444	1,950	2,299
	Fine Gael	Seán Broderick	4.1	1,379	1,682	1,745
Electorate: 42,037   Valid: 33,414   Spoilt: 266 (0.8%)   Quota: 8,354   Turnout: 33,680 (80.1%)[26]

1973 general election

1973 general election: Limerick West[14]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Gerry Collins	9,679	33.9	1	1
	Fine Gael	Denis Jones	6,403	22.5	3
	Fianna Fáil	Michael J. Noonan	5,398	18.9	2
	Fine Gael	William O'Brien	4,253	14.9
	Fine Gael	Brendan Danaher	2,792	9.8
Electorate: ?   Valid: 28,525   Quota: 7,132   Turnout:

1969 general election

1969 general election: Limerick West[13]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Gerry Collins	10,557	36.7	1	1
	Fine Gael	Denis Jones	6,165	21.4	2
	Fine Gael	William O'Brien	3,102	10.8
	Fianna Fáil	Michael J. Noonan	2,598	9.0	3
	Fine Gael	Brendan Danaher	2,366	8.2
	Fianna Fáil	Rory Kiely	1,991	6.9
	Labour Party	Edward Dwyer	1,254	4.4
	Labour Party	Michael Murphy	529	1.8
	Independent	Thomas Lynch	231	0.8
Electorate: ?   Valid: 28,793   Quota: 7,199   Turnout:

1967 by-election

Following the death of Fianna Fáil TD James Collins, a by-election was held on 9 November 1967. The seat was won by the Fianna Fáil candidate Gerry Collins, son of the deceased TD.

1967 by-election: Limerick West[27]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1
	Fianna Fáil	Gerard Collins	53.8	14,384
	Fine Gael	William Madden	38.6	10,237
	Labour Party	Edward Dwyer	7.7	2,048
Electorate: 32,958   Valid: 26,669   Quota: 13,335   Turnout: 80.92%

1965 general election

1965 general election: Limerick West[11]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	James Collins	8,476	33.4	1	1
	Fine Gael	Denis Jones	7,213	28.5	2	1
	Fianna Fáil	Donnchadh Ó Briain	5,343	21.1	3
	Labour Party	Edward Dwyer	2,304	9.1
	Fine Gael	Brendan Danaher	2,020	8.0
Electorate: 33,099   Valid: 25,356   Quota: 6,340   Turnout: 77

1961 general election

1961 general election: Limerick West[10]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	James Collins	9,018	35.6	1	1
	Fine Gael	Denis Jones	7,037	27.7	2	1
	Fianna Fáil	Donnchadh Ó Briain	6,006	23.6	3	2
	Fine Gael	James O'Donnell	3,346	13.2
Electorate: 33,411   Valid: 25,407   Quota: 6,352   Turnout: 76%

1957 general election

1957 general election: Limerick West[9]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fine Gael	Denis Jones	7,952	30.8	1	1
	Fianna Fáil	James Collins	7,910	30.6	2	1
	Fianna Fáil	Donnchadh Ó Briain	4,985	19.3	3	4
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Colbert	4,467	17.3
	Independent	Martin Ward	514	2.0
Electorate: 33,780   Valid: 25,828   Quota: 6,458   Turnout: 76.4%

1955 by-election

Following the death of Fine Gael TD David Madden, a by-election was held on 13 December 1955. The seat was won by the Fianna Fáil candidate Michael Colbert.

1955 by-election: Limerick West[27]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1
	Fianna Fáil	Michael Colbert	56.2	15,088
	Fine Gael	Denis F. Jones	35.0	9,406
	Labour Party	Patrick Aherne	8.8	2,349
Electorate: 33,267   Valid: 26,843   Quota: 13,422   Turnout: 80.69%

1954 general election

1954 general election: Limerick West[7]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	James Collins	7,857	28.5	1	1
	Fianna Fáil	Donnchadh Ó Briain	7,078	25.6	2	1
	Fine Gael	David Madden	5,614	20.3	3	4
	Labour Party	Gerard Hayes	3,249	11.8
	Fine Gael	William O'Connor	2,471	9.0
	Fine Gael	Liam Bennett	1,331	4.8
Electorate: 33,318   Valid: 27,600   Quota: 6,901   Turnout: 80%

1951 general election

1951 general election: Limerick West[27]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3
	Fine Gael	David Madden	29.2	7,901
	Fianna Fáil	James J. Collins	25.3	6,851
	Fianna Fáil	Donnchadh Ó Briain	22.0	5,966	6,069	9,189
	Fianna Fáil	Richard Bresnihan	13.1	3,541	3,578
	Fine Gael	William O'Connor	10.4	2,827	3,816	3,995
Electorate: 35,877   Valid: 27,086   Quota: 6,772   Turnout: 75.48%

1948 general election

1948 general election: Limerick West[27]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7
	Fianna Fáil	James J. Collins	24.7	6,778	6,853	6,871
	Fianna Fáil	Donnchadh Ó Briain	22.2	6,101	6,217	6,256	6,452	6,983
	Fine Gael	David John Madden	16.8	4,602	4,742	4,854	5,510	5,891	5,906	7,566
	Fianna Fáil	John Lynch	8.1	2,235	2,256	2,311	2,399	2,750	2,826	2,882
	Fine Gael	Timothy O'Connell	6.5	1,783	1,844	1,908	2,069	2,194	2,207
	Labour Party	Patrick Langan	6.2	1,695	1,787	1,809	1,964
	Clann na Poblachta	James O'Connor	5.1	1,402	1,445	1,944	2,071	2,386	2,395	2,659
	Independent	Patrick Fitzsimons	4.6	1,257	1,439	1,482
	Clann na Poblachta	Patrick Terence Liston	3.0	836	881
	Independent	Michael J. K. Dore	2.9	787
Electorate: 35,766   Valid: 27,476   Quota: 6,870   Turnout: 76.82%

See also

• Dáil constituencies
• Politics of the Republic of Ireland
• List of political parties in the Republic of Ireland
• List of Dáil by-elections
• Elections in the Republic of Ireland

References

1. "Electoral (Amendment) Act 2005: Schedule". Irish Statute Book database. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
2. "Report on Dáil and European Parliament Constituencies 2007" (PDF). Constituency Commission. 23 October 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 November 2007. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
3. "Electoral (Amendment) Act 2009: Schedule". Irish Statute Book database. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
4. Walker, Brian M, ed. (1992). Parliamentary election results in Ireland, 1918–92. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0-901714-96-8. ISSN 0332-0286.
5. "General election 1948: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
6. "General election 1951: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
7. "General election 1954: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
8. "By-election 1955: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
9. "General election 1957: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
10. "General election 1961: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
11. "General election 1965: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
12. "By-election 1967: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
13. "General election 1969: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
14. "General election 1973: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
15. "General election 1977: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
16. "General election 1981: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
17. "General election February 1982: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
18. "General election November 1982: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
19. "General election 1987: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
20. "General election 1989: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
21. "General election 1992: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 23 February 2009.
22. "General election 1997: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 23 February 2009.
23. "General election 2002: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 23 February 2009.
24. "General election 2007: Limerick West". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 23 February 2009.
25. Government of Ireland (1998). 28th Dáil General Election June, 1997 Election Results and Transfer of Votes. Stationery Office, Government of Ireland.
26. The Irish Times, 20 June 1977, p7–10
27. Gallagher, Michael (2009). Irish Elections 1948–77: Results and Analysis Sources for the Study of Irish Politics 2. Routledge. ISBN 9781138973343.

External links

• Oireachtas Members Database