RTÉ Coverage of General Elections - 1987

General Election 1987

On 17 February 1987, the fourth general election of the 1980s was held. Labour had withdrawn from coalition over budgetary issues, and the Taoiseach, Garret Fitzgerald, dissolved the Dáil. A new party, The Progressive Democrats, fought the election for the first time. The PDs formed in 1985 and, led by former Fianna Fáil minister Dessie O'Malley, won 14 seats to become Ireland's third biggest party. Fine Gael won only 50 seats, losing a lot of support to the PDs. Labour won 12 seats, with party leader Dick Spring just holding onto his seat. Despite having only 81 seats, Fianna Fáil formed a minority government, with Charles Haughey elected as Taoiseach.

Although Northern Ireland and the Anglo Irish Agreement figured in the election debates, the main issues for the large population of youth were unemployment and emigration.

This vox pop for 'Evening Extra' catches the mood of young voters.

The Progressive Democrats were founded in 1985 by Dessie O'Malley. A former Fianna Fáil minister and ardent opponent of Charles Haughey, O'Malley was joined by Mary Harney, Bobby Molloy and Pearse Wyse from Fianna Fáil, and by Fine Gael TD Michael Keating and former Fine Gael activist Michael McDowell. The director of elections for the PDs was former RTÉ journalist and presenter Pat Cox.

The PDs needed the well-known O'Malley to help raise the profile of relatively unknown candidates. 'Today Tonight' looks at the new party as they campaign in their first general election. However, as this clip shows, not everyone is happy to meet the members of the newly-formed Progressive Democrats.

Dessie O'Malley was re-elected, but this time for the Progressive Democrats. His running mate Peadar Clohessy was also re-elected. RTÉ interviewed both men at the count centre in Limerick. Meanwhile, in Dublin South-East, another Progressive Democrat candidate, Michael McDowell, was elected for the first time. McDowell went on to become leader of the PDs in 2006.

Labour leader Dick Spring held his seat by just four votes after a total recount.

While awaiting that recount, he describes his feelings to Brian Farrell and his position as that of "...playing against the wind for both halves", as coverage goes live to Sligo, where after the seventh count, there is success for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

A side bar to the 1987 general election was a competition run by the Sunday Independent. £250,000 for anyone who could predict the numbers of seats returned by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael along with the numbers and names of successful candidates for the Progressive Democrats, the Workers Party and the Labour Party. Despite the difficulty, there were almost 300,000 entries including one large syndicate.

Sunday Independent editor, Aengus Fanning, speaks to Gay Byrne about the competition and the chances of someone making the correct prediction.