Leitrim (Dáil constituency)

Leitrim was a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish parliament) from 1937 to 1948. The constituency elected 3 deputies (Teachtaí Dála, commonly known as TDs) to the Dáil, on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).

Leitrim
Former Dáil constituency
Former constituency
Created	1937
Abolished	1948
Seats	3
Local government areas	County Leitrim County Sligo
Created from	Leitrim–Sligo
Replaced by	Sligo–Leitrim

History

The constituency was created for the 1937 general election, when the Electoral (Revision of Constituencies) Act 1935 split the old Leitrim–Sligo constituency, with County Sligo being represented from 1937 through the new Sligo constituency.^[1]

Under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1947, the Leitrim constituency was abolished, and the Sligo–Leitrim constituency was created for the 1948 general election.^[2]

Boundaries

Some Dáil constituencies cross county boundaries, in order to ensure a reasonably consistent ratio of electors to TDs. The 1935 Act defines the boundaries of the Leitrim constituency as being:

"The administrative County of Leitrim and The District Electoral Divisions of: Ballintogher East, Ballynakill, Ballynashee, Cliffony North, Cliffony South, Drumcolumb, Killadoon, Kilmactranny, Rossinver East and Shancough in the administrative County of Sligo."^[1]

TDs

Teachtaí Dála (TDs) for Leitrim 1937–1948[3]
Key to parties   FF = Fianna Fáil   FG = Fine Gael   Ind = Independent
Dáil	Election	Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)
9th	1937[4]		Stephen Flynn (FF)		Bernard Maguire (FF)		Mary Reynolds (FG)
10th	1938[5]
11th	1943[6]				Bernard Maguire (Ind)
12th	1944[7]
13th	1948	Constituency abolished. See Sligo–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.

Elections

1944 general election

1944 general election: Leitrim^[7][8]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	Independent	Bernard Maguire	27.8	6,597
	Fianna Fáil	Stephen Flynn	26.8	6,347
	Fine Gael	Mary Reynolds	24.5	5,815	6,136
	Clann na Talmhan	James Reynolds	20.8	4,935	5,287
Electorate: 35,677   Valid: 23,694   Quota: 5,924   Turnout: 66.4%

1943 general election

1943 general election: Leitrim^[6][8]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Independent	Bernard Maguire	20.2	5,502	5,621	5,725	5,931	6,309	6,566	6,654	7,610
	Fine Gael	Mary Reynolds	19.4	5,290	5,384	5,499	5,568	5,842	7,440
	Fianna Fáil	Stephen Flynn	15.3	4,175	4,226	4,567	5,199	6,156	6,321	6,370	6,979
	Independent	Patrick Carey	9.7	2,642	2,724	2,807	2,889	3,110	3,171	3,203
	Fine Gael	Michael McGowan	8.8	2,409	2,459	2,550	2,613	2,629
	Independent	Joseph Mooney	6.9	1,896	2,057	2,329	2,536	2,671	3,051	3,498	4,068
	Fianna Fáil	Thomas Burke	6.6	1,812	1,872	1,882	2,122
	Fianna Fáil	Edward Boles	5.7	1,558	1,684	1,709
	Independent	James McHugh	3.9	1,072	1,197
	Labour	James Gilhooly	3.4	939
Electorate: 35,677   Valid: 27,295   Quota: 6,824   Turnout: 76.5%

1938 general election

1938 general election: Leitrim^[5][8]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	Fianna Fáil	Bernard Maguire	31.3	8,481
	Fianna Fáil	Stephen Flynn	29.4	7,958
	Fine Gael	Mary Reynolds	21.3	5,778	6,090	6,188
	Fine Gael	Andrew Mooney	18.0	4,862	4,987	5,099
Electorate: 35,568   Valid: 27,079   Quota: 6,770   Turnout: 76.1%

1937 general election

1937 general election: Leitrim^[4][8]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Fianna Fáil	Bernard Maguire	28.5	7,755
	Fianna Fáil	Stephen Flynn	22.5	6,129	6,942
	Fine Gael	Mary Reynolds	19.5	5,296	5,357	5,909	5,976	6,653
	Independent	James Dolan	9.2	2,508	2,522	2,568	2,598	2,947
	Fine Gael	John Travers	7.6	2,070	2,079	2,169	2,193	2,993
	Fine Gael	John Hennigan	7.6	2,057	2,065	2,090	2,104
	Independent	Patrick Tubman	5.2	1,411	1,454
Electorate: 36,368   Valid: 27,226   Quota: 6,807   Turnout: 74.9%

See also

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