Roscommon (Dáil constituency)

Roscommon was a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas from 1923 to 1969 and from 1981 to 1992. The method of election was the single transferable vote form of proportional representation (PR-STV).

Roscommon
Former Dáil Éireann Parliamentary Constituency
Former constituency
Created	1923
Abolished	1969
Seats	4 (1923–37) 3 (1937–48) 4 (1948–69)
County/City council	County Roscommon

Roscommon
Former Dáil Éireann Parliamentary Constituency
Former constituency
Created	1981
Abolished	1992
Seats	3
County/City council	County Roscommon

History and boundaries

The constituency has had two separate periods of existence:

• from the 1923 general election until its abolition at the 1969 general election,[1] when it was amalgamated into the Roscommon–Leitrim constituency. At different periods it returned 4, 3 or 4 TDs. It comprised the administrative county of Roscommon.
• as a 3 seater from the 1981 general election until its abolition at the 1992 general election to be replaced by the 4-seat Longford–Roscommon constituency. It comprised the administrative county of Roscommon; and, in the administrative county of Galway, the district electoral divisions of: Ballinastack, Ballymoe, Ballynakill, Boyounagh, Creggs, Island, Kilcroan, Templetogher, Toberroe, in the former Rural District of Glennamaddy.[2]

For the 2007 general election, the county was represented by the new Roscommon–South Leitrim constituency.

TDs

TDs 1923–1969

Teachtaí Dála (TDs) for Roscommon 1923–1969[3]
Key to parties   CnaP = Clann na Poblachta   CnaT = Clann na Talmhan   CnaG = Cumann na nGaedheal   FF = Fianna Fáil   FG = Fine Gael   Ind = Independent   Lab = Labour Party   NCP = National Centre Party   NPD = National Progressive Democrats   Rep = Republican
Dáil	Election	Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)
4th	1923[4]		Count Plunkett (Rep)		Henry Finlay (CnaG)		Gerald Boland (Rep)		Andrew Lavin (CnaG)
	1925 by-election[5]				Martin Conlon (CnaG)
5th	1927 (Jun)[6]		Patrick O'Dowd (FF)				Gerald Boland (FF)		Michael Brennan (Ind)
6th	1927 (Sep)[7]
7th	1932[8]		Daniel O'Rourke (FF)						Frank MacDermot (NCP)
8th	1933[9]		Patrick O'Dowd (FF)		Michael Brennan (CnaG)
9th	1937[10]		Michael Brennan (FG)		Daniel O'Rourke (FF)			3 seats 1937–1948
10th	1938[11]
11th	1943[12]		John Meighan (CnaT)		John Beirne Snr (CnaT)
12th	1944[13]		Daniel O'Rourke (FF)
13th	1948[14]				John Beirne Jnr (CnaT)				Jack McQuillan (CnaP)
14th	1951[15]		John Finan (CnaT)						Jack McQuillan (Ind)
15th	1954[16]		James Burke (FG)
16th	1957[17]
17th	1961[18]				Brian Lenihan Snr (FF)		Patrick J. Reynolds (FG)		Jack McQuillan (NPD)
	1964 by-election[19]		Joan Burke (FG)
18th	1965[20]								Hugh Gibbons (FF)
19th	1969	Constituency abolished. See Roscommon–Leitrim

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.

TDs 1981–1992

Teachtaí Dála (TDs) for Roscommon 1981–1992[3]
Key to parties   FF = Fianna Fáil   FG = Fine Gael   Ind = Independent
Dáil	Election	Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)
22nd	1981[21]		Terry Leyden (FF)		Seán Doherty (FF)		John Connor (FG)
23rd	1982 (Feb)[22]						Liam Naughten (FG)
24th	1982 (Nov)[23]
25th	1987[24]
26th	1989[25]				Tom Foxe (Ind)		John Connor (FG)
27th	1992	Constituency abolished. See Longford–Roscommon

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

1989 general election

1989 general election: Roscommon[25]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fine Gael	John Connor	6,823	22.1	3
	Independent	Tom Foxe	6,811	22.1	2
	Fianna Fáil	Terry Leyden	6,424	20.8	1
	Fine Gael	Liam Naughten	5,435	17.6
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Doherty	5,281	17.1
	Independent	Andrew Kerrigan	119	0.4
Electorate: ?   Valid: 30,893   Quota: 7,724   Turnout:

1987 general election

1987 general election: Roscommon[24]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Doherty	8,944	27.6	1	1
	Fianna Fáil	Terry Leyden	7,257	22.4	2
	Fine Gael	John Connor	6,144	19.0
	Fine Gael	Liam Naughten	5,949	18.4	3
	Independent	Eithne Quinn	4,067	12.6
Electorate: ?   Valid: 32,361   Quota: 8,091   Turnout:

November 1982 general election

November 1982 general election: Roscommon[23]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Doherty	9,362	28.5	1	1
	Fianna Fáil	Terry Leyden	8,121	24.8	2
	Fine Gael	Liam Naughten	7,338	22.4	3
	Fine Gael	John Connor	5,177	15.8
	Fine Gael	Thomas Callan	2,806	8.6
Electorate: ?   Valid: 32,804   Quota: 8,202   Turnout:

February 1982 general election

February 1982 general election: Roscommon[22]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Doherty	8,936	28.1	1	1
	Fianna Fáil	Terry Leyden	8,450	26.6	2	1
	Fine Gael	Liam Naughten	7,502	23.6	3
	Fine Gael	John Connor	6,897	21.7
Electorate: ?   Valid: 31,785   Quota: 7,947   Turnout:

1981 general election

1981 general election: Roscommon[21]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Seán Doherty	8,918	26.9	1
	Fianna Fáil	Terry Leyden	7,095	21.4	2
	Fine Gael	Liam Naughten	4,845	14.6
	Fine Gael	John Connor	4,717	14.2	3
	Fine Gael	Charles Duignan	3,505	10.6
	Independent	Patrick Lenihan	1,771	5.3
	Independent	Patrick Moylan	1,569	4.7
	Independent	Tom McGarry	633	1.9
	Independent	Patrick Greaney	100	0.3
Electorate: ?   Valid: 33,153   Quota: 8,289   Turnout:

1965 general election

1965 general election: Roscommon[20]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fine Gael	Joan Burke	9,467	26.9	1	1
	Fianna Fáil	Brian Lenihan Snr	7,616	21.6	2	1
	Fine Gael	Patrick J. Reynolds	4,870	13.9	3
	Labour Party	Jack McQuillan	4,449	12.7
	Fianna Fáil	Hugh Gibbons	3,882	11.0	4
	Fianna Fáil	Willie Farrell	3,659	10.4
	Fine Gael	Michael Fallon	1,217	3.5
Electorate: ?   Valid: 35,160   Quota: 7,033   Turnout:

1964 by-election

Following the death of Fine Gael TD James Burke, a by-election was held on 8 July 1964. The seat was won by the Fine Gael candidate Joan Burke, widow of the deceased TD.

1964 by-election: Roscommon[26]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2
	Fine Gael	Joan T. Burke	49.7	17,308	18,754
	Fianna Fáil	Hugh Gibbons	43.4	15,107	15,673
	Labour Party	Oliver Macklin	5.9	2,056
	Sinn Féin	Pádraig Ó Ceallaigh	1.0	352
Electorate: 44,635   Valid: 34,823   Quota: 17,412   Turnout: 78.02%

1961 general election

1961 general election: Roscommon[18]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	National Progressive Democrats	Jack McQuillan	5,289	15.1	1
	Fianna Fáil	Brian Lenihan Snr	4,873	13.9	4
	Fine Gael	James Burke	4,753	13.6	2
	Fine Gael	Patrick J. Reynolds	3,754	10.7	3
	Fianna Fáil	Gerald Boland	3,634	10.4
	Clann na Talmhan	John Beirne Jnr	3,211	9.2
	Fianna Fáil	Peter Charles	2,331	6.7
	Independent	James Doherty	1,975	5.6
	Clann na Poblachta	Peter McGuinness	1,603	4.6
	Fine Gael	Rose Shannon	1,467	4.2
	Sinn Féin	Sylvester Fitzsimons	1,138	3.3
	Independent	Richard Ellis	968	2.8
Electorate: ?   Valid: 34,996   Quota: 7,000   Turnout:

1957 general election

1957 general election: Roscommon[17]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Clann na Talmhan	John Beirne Jnr	4,222	13.8	3
	Independent	Jack McQuillan	4,075	13.3	2
	Fine Gael	James Burke	3,914	12.8	4
	Fianna Fáil	Brian Lenihan Snr	3,393	11.1
	Fianna Fáil	Gerald Boland	3,288	10.7	1
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel O'Rourke	2,805	9.2
	Sinn Féin	Seán Scott	2,741	9.0
	Clann na Talmhan	Paddy Concannon	2,043	6.7
	Fianna Fáil	Walter McGuire	1,813	5.9
	Labour Party	Joseph Connaughton	1,756	5.7
	Labour Party	James Regan	583	1.9
Electorate: ?   Valid: 30,633   Quota: 6,127   Turnout:

1954 general election

1954 general election: Roscommon[16]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Gerald Boland	5,456	16.4	1
	Clann na Talmhan	John Beirne Jnr	4,894	14.7	2
	Independent	Jack McQuillan	4,756	14.3	4
	Fine Gael	James Burke	4,549	13.7	3
	Clann na Talmhan	John Finan	4,337	13.1
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel O'Rourke	3,629	10.9
	Fianna Fáil	Peter Lynch	3,447	10.4
	Clann na Poblachta	John Scott	901	2.7
	Labour Party	Andrew Treacy	894	2.7
	Clann na Poblachta	Michael Garvey	339	1.0
Electorate: ?   Valid: 33,202   Quota: 6,641   Turnout:

1951 general election

1951 general election: Roscommon[26]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7
	Clann na Talmhan	John Beirne Jnr	18.4	6,269	6,796	7,683
	Fianna Fáil	Gerald Boland	14.6	4,980	5,072	5,180	5,202	6,655	6,786	6,831
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel O'Rourke	13.8	4,710	4,732	4,828	4,843	5,946	6,090	6,129
	Clann na Talmhan	John Finan	12.9	4,408	4,558	5,320	5,746	5,771	7,556
	Independent	Jack McQuillan	10.8	3,666	3,772	4,290	4,400	4,748	5,768	6,298
	Fianna Fáil	John J. Smyth	8.9	3,036	3,045	3,083	3,092
	Clann na Poblachta	Michael Kelly	8.1	2,751	2,962
	Fine Gael	Michael Brennan	7.5	2,551	3,101	3,546	3,725	3,802
	Fine Gael	Patrick J. Flynn	5.0	1,691
Electorate: 44,017   Valid: 34,062   Quota: 6,813   Turnout: 77.38%

1948 general election

1948 general election: Roscommon[26]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8
	Fianna Fáil	Gerald Boland	21.5	7,581
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel O'Rourke	13.7	4,841	5,039	5,065	5,101	5,131	5,178	5,340	7,948
	Clann na Talmhan	John Beirne Jnr	12.7	4,470	4,484	4,549	4,987	5,416	5,514	6,135	6,774
	Fianna Fáil	Peter Timothy Lynch	10.3	3,633	3,846	3,857	3,890	3,918	3,999	4,124
	Clann na Talmhan	John Finan	10.2	3,604	3,609	3,671	3,892	4,095	4,254	4,647	4,679
	Clann na Poblachta	John McQuillan	8.6	3,025	3,041	3,087	3,252	3,449	5,814	6,862	7,277
	Clann na Poblachta	Michael Kelly	7.5	2,660	2,670	2,698	2,731	2,861
	Independent	Michael Brennan	6.7	2,370	2,405	2,490	2,777	3,138	3,177
	Fine Gael	Martin Conlon	3.6	1,255	1,263	1,511	1,555
	Clann na Talmhan	Matt Davis	3.4	1,216	1,232	1,301
	Fine Gael	Peter Farrell	1.9	655	659
Electorate: 46,197   Valid: 35,310   Quota: 7,062   Turnout: 76.43%

1944 general election

1944 general election: Roscommon[13]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Gerald Boland	7,800	25.5	1	1
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel O'Rourke	7,044	23.0	2
	Clann na Talmhan	John Beirne Snr	5,359	17.5	3
	Independent	John Meighan	4,629	15.1
	Fine Gael	Michael Brennan	2,394	7.8
	Independent	Peter Farrell	2,189	7.2
	Ailtirí na hAiséirghe	Joseph O'Kelly	1,217	4.0
Electorate: ?   Valid: 30,632   Quota: 7,659   Turnout:

1943 general election

1943 general election: Roscommon[12]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Gerald Boland	7,091	22.2	1
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel O'Rourke	6,522	20.4
	Clann na Talmhan	John Meighan	5,122	16.0	2
	Clann na Talmhan	John Beirne Snr	4,903	15.4	3
	Fine Gael	Michael Brennan	3,261	10.2
	Labour Party	John Doran	3,132	9.8
	Independent	Thomas O'Donnell	1,902	6.0
Electorate: ?   Valid: 31,933   Quota: 7,984   Turnout:

1938 general election

1938 general election: Roscommon[11]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Gerald Boland	10,719	33.8	1	1
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel O'Rourke	8,223	26.0	2	1
	Fine Gael	Michael Brennan	6,547	20.7	3
	Fine Gael	Dudley Costello	6,200	19.6
Electorate: ?   Valid: 31,689   Quota: 7,923   Turnout:

1937 general election

1937 general election: Roscommon[10]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Gerald Boland	8,925	28.4	1	1
	Fine Gael	Michael Brennan	8,295	26.4	2	1
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel O'Rourke	5,774	18.4	3
	Fine Gael	Dudley Costello	4,806	15.3
	Independent	Patrick O'Dowd	3,599	11.5
Electorate: ?   Valid: 31,399   Quota: 7,850   Turnout:

1933 general election

1933 general election: Roscommon[9]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Gerald Boland	8,246	20.8	1	1
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick O'Dowd	8,160	20.6	2	1
	National Centre Party	Frank MacDermot	7,703	19.4	3
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel O'Rourke	7,190	18.1
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Michael Brennan	4,568	11.5	4
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Martin Conlon	3,781	9.5
Electorate: ?   Valid: 39,648   Quota: 7,930   Turnout:

1932 general election

1932 general election: Roscommon[8]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel O'Rourke	6,606	18.7	3
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick O'Dowd	6,314	17.9
	Fianna Fáil	Gerald Boland	6,189	17.5	4
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Martin Conlon	4,715	13.3	1
	Independent	Frank MacDermot	4,560	12.9	2
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Michael Brennan	4,077	11.5
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Michael Grogan	2,897	8.2
Electorate: ?   Valid: 35,358   Quota: 7,072   Turnout:

September 1927 general election

September 1927 general election: Roscommon[7]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Gerald Boland	5,417	16.3	2
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick O'Dowd	5,289	15.9	3
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Martin Conlon	4,959	14.9	1
	Independent	Michael Brennan	3,844	11.6	4
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel O'Rourke	3,424	10.3
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Joseph Burke	3,050	9.2
	Independent	John Doran	2,987	9.0
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Andrew Lavin	2,326	7.0
	Independent	John Keaveney	1,895	5.7
Electorate: ?   Valid: 33,191   Quota: 6,639   Turnout:

June 1927 general election

June 1927 general election: Roscommon[6]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Gerald Boland	5,615	18.1	1
	Independent	Michael Brennan	4,151	13.3	2
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Martin Conlon	3,734	12.0	3
	Fianna Fáil	Patrick O'Dowd	3,000	9.6	4
	Independent	John Keaveney	2,500	8.0
	Cumann na nGaedheal	John Doran	2,341	7.5
	Labour Party	Thomas Larkin	2,256	7.2
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Andrew Lavin	1,963	6.3
	Independent	Michael Killian	1,834	5.9
	Sinn Féin	Count Plunkett	1,575	5.1
	Fianna Fáil	Séamus Duffy	1,108	3.6
	Cumann na nGaedheal	James Flanagan	1,032	3.3
Electorate: ?   Valid: 31,109   Quota: 6,222   Turnout:

1925 by-election

Following the resignation of Cumann na nGaedheal TD Henry Finlay, a by-election was held on 11 March 1925. The seat was won by the Cumann na nGaedheal candidate Martin Conlon.

1925 by-election: Roscommon[5]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count 1
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Martin Conlon	61.2	21,118
	Republican	John J. O'Kelly	38.8	13,410
Electorate: 52,929   Valid: 34,528   Quota: 17,265   Turnout: 65.2%

1923 general election

1923 general election: Roscommon[4]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Republican	Count Plunkett	5,507	17.7	1
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Andrew Lavin	5,001	16.0	3
	Republican	Gerald Boland	3,843	12.3	4
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Henry Finlay	3,827	12.3	2
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Patrick Dyar	2,253	7.2
	Cumann na nGaedheal	Patrick Dorr	1,906	6.1
	Farmers' Party	Michael Brennan	1,711	5.5
	Labour Party	Liam Kelleher	1,545	4.9
	Farmers' Party	Edward Cline	1,397	4.5
	Republican	James Moran	1,205	3.9
	Republican	Gerald Davis	839	2.7
	Independent	Jasper Tully	811	2.6
	Farmers' Party	John Drury	716	2.3
	Independent	Henry Fitzgibbon	636	2.0
Electorate: 53,710   Valid: 31,197   Quota: 6,240   Turnout: 58.1%

See also

• Dáil constituencies
• Politics of the Republic of Ireland
• Historic Dáil constituencies
• Elections in the Republic of Ireland

References

1. "Electoral Act, 1923: (Constituencies)". Irish Statute Book database. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
2. "Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1980: Schedule (Constituencies)". Irish Statute Book database. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
3. Walker, Brian M, ed. (1992). Parliamentary election results in Ireland, 1918–92. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0-901714-96-8. ISSN 0332-0286.
4. "General election 1923: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
5. "By-election 1925: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
6. "General election June 1927: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
7. "General election September 1927: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
8. "General election 1932: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
9. "General election 1933: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
10. "General election 1937: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
11. "General election 1938: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
12. "General election 1943: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
13. "General election 1944: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
14. "General election 1948: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
15. "General election 1951: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
16. "General election 1954: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
17. "General election 1957: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
18. "General election 1961: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
19. "By-election 1964: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
20. "General election 1965: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
21. "General election 1981: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
22. "General election February 1982: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
23. "General election November 1982: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
24. "General election 1987: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
25. "General election 1989: Roscommon". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
26. 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