Irish general election, 1989

The elections to Dáil Éireann in 1989 were held on 15 June 1989. Determined were the members of the 26th Dáil.

Results 1989

The 166 parliamentarians gathered for the first time on June 29, and the term of office lasted 1259 days.

The election of 1989 was convened as an advance from a minority Fianna Fáil was rejected in terms of providing a fund for AIDS patients. Although a new election would not have been necessary, since this is not jeopardized the governability of Fianna Fáil, the Dáil was dissolved. Charles Haughey, leader of Fianna Fáil, decided to take this step also for another reason: Recent polls showed his party on a new high and there was the possibility of an absolute majority. There were also rumors that several Fianna Fáil members wanted to raise in this way for yourself funds. The rumors could not be proven at this time, but ten years later it turned out that Ray Burke, Padraig Flynn and Haughey had even received considerable campaign contributions at the personal disposal.

The hope of Fianna Fáil to surprise the other parties to the election, were not fulfilled: The opposition coordinated their joint efforts fairly quickly. Cuts in the health sector were the dominant theme.

Alan Dukes, the new leader of Fine Gael, had kept his Tallaght strategy Fianna Fáil the last two years in power. Tallaght is a suburb of Dublin, had given a speech to the Chamber of Commerce in the Dukes on September 2, 1987. The main message from him was that if the government is doing the right things, I will not fight it and block from partisan reasons.

Although the election was held on the same day as the European elections, the turnout was only at 68.50 %. Maybe it was also due to an optional weary electorate, for it was already the fifth choice in 8 years.

The election results (4 lost seats) was for Fianna Fáil, who sought an absolute majority, a defeat since the election was actually been unnecessary. But the Progressive Democrats lost more than half its deputies. The formation of a government proved then as difficult as expected. Many within Fianna Fáil hoped that the minority government to continue using the Tallaght strategy, but Fine Gael blocked so that it seemed impossible to set up a new government. The situation seemed so hopeless that Charles Haughey formally resigned as Taoiseach. For the first time in Irish history, no government and no Taoiseach could be placed in the first Dáil meeting. Only 27 days later, negotiations between Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats to form a government.