This was delivered during the 1983 Dublin Central by-election campaign. In tight times the Social Welfare Christmas Bonus was to be paid thanks to Labour Minister Barry Desmond. The voters weren’t thanking him as Somers finished fifth on the day behind the Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Workers Party and Sinn Fein Candidates.
Jimmy Somers is a former President of SIPTU and was previously in the ITGWU. He was also a local to the area.
New Labour Party recruit, Mae Sexton was initially elected to Longford County Council and UDC in 1991 as an Independent.
This is her missive from the 1992 General Election.
Over the years a number of Independent Councillors such as Mae Sexton and Kate Walsh joined the PDs.
Here though Mae ‘never felt that joining a political party would accomodate the free expression of my points of view’.
She was also opposed to Service charges and a number of other items that could have seemed incompatible with the PDs.
In 2010 she joined the Labour Party. Another councillor to do so was John Kelly in neighbouring Roscommon.
In 1989 both the General and European Elections were held on the same day.
Both Lalor and Fitzsimons were elected here as Fianna Fail held its 2 seats, despite a drop in the Fianna Fail vote since the 1984 Euro Elections.
Laoisman Paddy Lalor, previously a TD for Laois-Offaly since 1961 had been elected to the European Parliament in 1979. Lalor, in his time, had served as a Minister for Posts & Telegraphs and Industry and Commerce.This 1989 election was to be his last. Lalor was a noted hurler and was part of the 1949 Laois team that won the Bob O’Keeffe Cup (Leinster title).
Meathman Jim Fitzsimons, who had briefly been a Minister of State in 1982, had been elected to the Dail in 1977. He stood in four European Elections from 1984 to 1999.
Letter from ACRA to householders in the Dun Laoghaire area during the 1985 local elections campaign.
Already only Eight years after Domestic Rates had been abolished by the 1977 Jack Lynch government, Local authorities were looking for ways to supplement their income.
Fianna Fail opposed the Local Government Service surcharge, Labour were split and Fine Gael proposed it!
Tony O’Toole, who signed the leaflet is/was very active in the movement to abolishing ground rents.
I’m curious if the Philip Gillick listed is the same Philip Gillick who was Justice Floods Tipstaff?
It would be an interesting coincidence, especially considering who and what was being investigated.
Meath Councillor Jack Fitzsimons running on amongst other things an anti hunting and Hare Coursing ticket. He got 6,752 votes.
Barbara Hyland has stood multiple times in multiple elections, most notably in 1987 where she along with four other candidates stood for the National Legal Justice Action Group. NLJAG were campaigning against the Law Society, or rather the staus of the Law society as the ‘only avenue of complaint’ if you had ‘Suffered at the hands of the legal profession’.
They wanted an independent ombudsman.
She stood in 13 constituencies top vote of 217 in her home of Wicklow, lowest 33 in Dublin North West.
This is from 1989 where she stood in just Kerry South and Wicklow. She stood again in 1992, 1997 and 2002. She has various newspaper clips in the leaflet which may give you a better idea as to her motives.
She had stood previously in the Local Elections for Labour.
A Paul Newman lookalike on a surfboard advertises the 1989 Labour Youth Summer Festival. At the back the dilema of to stay in the hostel, sports hall or Tent is there as of course is the temptation to say you were under 26.
You may notice a new “Others” Project link at the top of the page.
What is it?
I’m trying to identify as many as possible ‘others’ from previous general elections. Did they represent a small party, a group or an issue?
Have a look and see if you can help fill in the gaps. I’ve started off with the November 1982, the 1987 and the 1989 general elections.
Thanks
AJ
Kevin Fitzpatrick who fought a number of elections for Sinn Fein in Dun Laoghaire in the 80s and early 90s. He was involved with the Concerned Parents Against Drugs and the Premier daries in Monkstown refered to is long gone.
Garret writes thanking ‘all who have supported me in the eight general elections since 1969 in Dublin South East’.
He also asks for a number one vote for Frances Fitzgerald and number 2 for Joe Doyle.
In the end Frances Fitzgerald got in, but the second Fine Gael Seat was lost to Michael McDowell.
The senators newsletter from the 2002 Seanad election campaign. (I’ve presented it in grayscale as the images were, rather aptly, too colourful). Views expressed on East Timor and a host of other interesting topics.
Pat Rabbitte plays the I’m in trouble card with his “Do you want to swap this man for a Sinn Fein or second Fianna Fail TD?” leaflet from the 2002 General Election Campaign. As it happens Both Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail won seats and it was Brian Hayes that lost out.
Noted historian Professor John A. Murphy from the 1989 Seanad Campaign. He was elected and it was his last Seanad election. The “issues he addressed in the outgoing Seanad” were very forward thinking.
Denis ‘Dino’ Cregan from the 1992 General Election in Cork South Central. Dino is another ‘Man of the people’, this time though ‘a man of the people for the people’. Dino evidently did a great job as Lord Mayor (and possibly has friends in the Evening Echo) and according to himself did a great job in the Seanad. Still he failed to win the seat.
He is also associated with ‘Dinos’ chipper in Cork.
How apt was this, If all of the below propositions had been in place at the time, we may not be in as bad a state as we are now.
Its this 1989 election where Gilmore was first elected to the Dail.
Liberties based Mary Mooney had been elected to the Dail in 1987 for Dublin South Central and was seen as a bright young star of Fianna Fail. However she lost her seat in the 1989 General election. Boundary changes led to her having to change to Dublin South East in 1992 , where she failed to be elected.
I wonder does the ‘Liberties around the houses race’ still take place?
The last local elections that the late Tony Gregory stood in. Gives a good illustration of his work since being initially elected in 1979.
Geography plays a major part in Irish elections, especially in larger rural constituencies. Often transfers are done locally rather than party wise. The nature of things is that more appears to be done in an area or town which has a TD than not.
Irish Election Literature 
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