RTÉ Coverage of General Elections - November 1982

General Election November 1982

This was the election that nobody wanted: nine months after the last one, a third general election within 18 months was called. A number of independents and the Workers' Party withdrew support for the Government after a series of budgetary cuts. The economy continued to dominate election issues, and campaigning was particularly difficult for the cash-strapped and campaign-weary parties. Fianna Fáil returned 75 seats while Fine Gael recorded its biggest election return with 70 and formed a new coalition with Labour, who had returned 16 seats.

When Garret Fitzgerald used the train as his mode of transport at the start of his campaign, it reflected the poor state of the Irish economy and the party coffers. This was a long way from the glitz and presidential style of the 1977 campaign led by Jack Lynch and Fianna Fáil, and adopted by other parties in subsequent elections.

Pat Kenny describes the growing importance of computers in the television presentation and analysis of election results. Professor Richard Sinnott of UCD explains the human factor.     

When the votes were counted, Fine Gael had returned a record 70 seats, Labour had 16 and Fianna Fáil had 75 seats. Early in the 1980s, Charles Haughey had survived a leadership challenge within Fianna Fáil by "the gang of 22".

On the "News at Six-Thirty", political correspondents Sean Duignan and Michael Mills discuss the choices for the Labour Party after the election and the position of Haughey as leader of Fianna Fáil following Des O'Malley's call to "let the hare sit".