31st 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 (ɕan̪ˠad̪ˠ e:rʲan̪ˠ) and the Dáil together form the parliament, known as the Oireachtas (ɛrʲaxt̪ˠasˠ). The "31st Dáil" is so called because it will be the 31st to sit since the foundation of the state.

Dáil Éireann (usually just called "the Dáil") has 166 members or Teachtaí Dálaí ("Teachta Dála", pronounced ˈtʲaxtə ˈdɑːlə, 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 30th Dáil consisted of a coalition of two parties: Fianna Fáil under Taoiseach Brian Cowen; and the Green Party. The main opposition parties in the 30th Dáil consisted of Fine Gael and Labour. The general election for the 165 seats available (the speaker, or Ceann Comhairle, is returned automatically) took place on Friday, 25th February, 2011, with the count of ballots beginning the following day.

Pre-election alliances

There were no pre-election pacts declared between the main parties. The Socialist Party, members of the People Before Profit alliance and some independent candidates announced the formation of the United Left Alliance in the weeks before the election.

Results

The general election saw a massive swing against the sitting government parties - Fianna Fáil fell to it's smallest representation ever.

Individually significant results included:

The Green Party lost all of their seats. Several sitting ministers also failed to win re-election, and Fianna Fáil managed to return only one TD in the whole of Dublin (outgoing Finance Minister Brian Lenihan).

Constituencies

Constituency	Number of seats (2011)	Result 2011 (change from 2007 in brackets)
		FF	FG	Lab.	PD	SF	Grn	Soc.	Other
Carlow-Kilkenny	5	1 (-2)	3 (+2)	1 (+1)			0 (-1)
Cavan-Monaghan	5	1 (-2)	3 (+2)			1 (0)
Clare	4	1 (-1)	2	1 (+1)
Cork East	4	0 (-2)	2 (+1)	1		1 (+1)
Cork North Central	4	1 (-1)	1	1		1 (+1)
Cork North West	3	1 (-1)	2 (+1)
Cork South Central	5	2	2	1
Cork South West	3	0 (-1)	2	1 (+1)
Donegal North East	3	1 (-1)	1			1 (+1)
Donegal South West	3	0 (-2)	1			1 (+1)			1 (+1)
Dublin Central	4	0 (-2)	1 (+1)	1		1 (+1)			1
Dublin Mid West	4	0 (-1)	2 (+2)	2 (+1)	0		0 (-1)
Dublin North	4	0 (-2)	2 (+1)	1 (+1)			0 (-1)	1 (+1)
Dublin North Central	3	0 (-1)	1	1 (+1)					1
Dublin North East	3	0 (-1)	1	2 (+1)
Dublin North West	3	0 (-2)		2 (+1)		1 (+1)
Dublin South	5	0 (-2)	3 (+1)	1 (+1)			0 (-1)
Dublin South Central	5	0 (-2)	1	2 (+1)		1			1 (+1)
Dublin South East	4	0 (-1)	2 (+1)	2 (+1)			0 (-1)
Dublin South West	4	0 (-2)	1	2 (+1)		1 (+1)
Dublin West	4 (+1)	1	1	1				1 (+1)
Dún Laoghaire	4 (-1)	0 (-2)	2 (+1)	1			0 (-1)		1 (+1)
Galway East	4	1 (-1)	2	1 (+1)
Galway West	5	1 (-1)	2 (+1)	1	0				1
Kerry North-Limerick West	3	0 (-1)	1	1 (+1)		1
Kerry South	3	0 (-2)	1 (+1)						2 (+1)
Kildare North	4	0 (-2)	2 (+1)	1					1 (+1)
Kildare South	3	1 (-1)	1 (+1)	1
Laois-Offaly	5	2 (-1)	2			1 (+1)
Limerick City	4 (-1)	1 (-1)	2	1
Limerick	3	1 (-1)	2 (+1)
Longford-Westmeath	4	1 (-1)	2 (+1)	1
Louth	5 (+1)	1 (-1)	2 (+1)	1 (+1)		1
Mayo	5	1	4 (+1)
Meath East	3	0 (-2)	2 (+1)	1 (+1)
Meath West	3	0 (-2)	2 (+1)			1 (+1)
Roscommon-South Leitrim	3	0 (-1)	2						1 (+1)
Sligo-North Leitrim	3	0 (-2)	2 (+1)			1 (+1)
Tipperary North	3	0 (-1)	1	1 (+1)					1
Tipperary South	3	0 (-2)	1						2 (+2)
Waterford	4	0 (-2)	2 (+1)	1					1 (+1)
Wexford	5	1 (-1)	2	1					1 (+1)
Wicklow	5	0 (-2)	3 (+1)	1					1 (+1)
Totals	166	20 (-58)	75 (+24)	37 (+17)	0	14 (+10)	0 (-6)	2 (+2)	15 (+10)

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	May 2007 (elected to 30th Dáil)	At dissolution of 30th Dáil	Elected to 31st Dáil	Current
Fianna Fáil	78	72	20	19
Fine Gael	51	51	75	75
Labour Party	20	20	37	38
Progressive Democrats	2	0	n/a	n/a
Green Party	6	6	0	0
Sinn Féin	4	5	14	14
Socialist	0	0	2	2
Independents	5	5	15	15

Formation of government

Negotiations on the formation of the government began immediately after the election results became known. Theoretically, it was possible for Fine Gael to form a minority government with the support of a number of independent TDs. However, Fine Gael and the Labour Party entered talks on forming a coalition. A programme for government was negotiated between representatives of both parties. The programme was agreed to by both a meeting of the Fine Gael parliamentary party and a special delegate conference of the Labour Party, both held on Sunday, 6th March, 2011.

The 31st Dáil sat for the first time on 9th March, 2011. Enda Kenny, leader of Fine Gael, was elected as Taoiseach, and formed a Fine Gael/Labour coalition government.

Cabinet

After travelling to Áras an Uactaráin to receive his Seal of Office from the President, Kenny returned to the Dáil to announce his cabinet. The appointments are as follows:

Office	Name	Term	Party
Taoiseach	Enda Kenny	2011–present	Fine Gael
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade	Eamon Gilmore	2011–present	Labour
Chief Whip	Paul Kehoe	2011–present	Fine Gael
Minister for Agriculture, Marine and Food	Simon Coveney	2011–present	Fine Gael
Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs	Jimmy Deenihan	2011–present	Fine Gael
Minister for Children	Frances Fitzgerald	2011–present	Fine Gael
Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources	Pat Rabbitte	2011–present	Labour
Minister for Education and Skills	Ruairi Quinn	2011–present	Labour
Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation	Richard Bruton	2011–present	Fine Gael
Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government	Phil Hogan	2011–present	Fine Gael
Junior Minister in the Department of the Environment	Willie Penrose	2011–present	Labour
Minister for Finance	Michael Noonan	2011–present	Fine Gael
Minister for Health	James Reilly	2011–present	Fine Gael
Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence	Alan Shatter	2011–present	Fine Gael
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform	Brendan Howlin	2011–present	Labour
Minister for Social Protection	Joan Burton	2011–present	Labour
Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport	Leo Varadkar	2011–present	Fine Gael

See also

• Catalog of Irish political parties