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147 seats inDáil Éireann[a] 74 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 76.5% 1.2pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Election results and first-preference votes in each constituency Number of seats gained by each party in each constituency | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The1954 Irish general election to elect the15th Dáil was held on Tuesday, 18 May, following the dissolution of the14th Dáil on 24 April byPresidentSeán T. O'Kelly on the request ofTaoiseachÉamon de Valera. The general election took place in 40Dáil constituencies throughout Ireland for 147 seats inDáil Éireann, the house of representatives of theOireachtas.
The 15th Dáil met atLeinster House on 2 June to nominate the Taoiseach for appointment by the president and to approve the appointment of a newgovernment of Ireland. De Valera failed to secure a majority, andJohn A. Costello was appointedTaoiseach, forming thesecond inter-party government, a minority coalition ofFine Gael, theLabour Party andClann na Talmhan.
After the1951 general election, Fianna Fáil had formed a minority single-party government. Shortly after theMinister for Finance,Seán McEntee, had delivered the 1954 budget,Éamon de Valera called a general election.[3][4]
Fianna Fáil had the most to lose, their campaign concentrated on providing political stability for the next five years. They also put forward strong arguments against coalition governments. However, this would not suffice when the country's economy was worsening and unemployment and emigration were increasing.
The opposition parties ofFine Gael, theLabour Party and the other minor parties offered the electorate an alternative to three years of Fianna Fáil rule.
| Election to the 15th Dáil – 18 May 1954[5][6][7][8] | ||||||||
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| Party | Leader | Seats | ± | % of seats | First pref. votes | % FPv | ±% | |
| Fianna Fáil | Éamon de Valera | 65 | –4 | 44.2 | 578,960 | 43.4 | –2.9 | |
| Fine Gael | Richard Mulcahy | 50 | +10 | 34.0 | 427,031 | 32.0 | +6.2 | |
| Labour | William Norton | 19[a] | +2 | 12.9 | 161,034 | 12.1 | +0.7 | |
| Clann na Talmhan | Joseph Blowick | 5 | –1 | 3.4 | 51,069 | 3.8 | +0.9 | |
| Clann na Poblachta | Seán MacBride | 3 | +1 | 2.0 | 41,249 | 3.1 | –1.0 | |
| Sinn Féin | Margaret Buckley | 0 | New | 0 | 1,990 | 0.1 | – | |
| National Action | 0 | New | 0 | 1,430 | 0.1 | – | ||
| Young Ireland | 0 | New | 0 | 1,037 | 0.1 | – | ||
| Irish Workers' League | Michael O'Riordan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 375 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
| Independent | N/A | 5 | –9 | 3.4 | 70,937 | 5.3 | –4.3 | |
| Spoilt votes | 12,730 | — | — | |||||
| Total | 147 | 0 | 100 | 1,347,842 | 100 | — | ||
| Electorate/Turnout | 1,763,209 | 76.5% | — | |||||
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Fine Gael, theLabour Party andClann na Talmhan formed thesecond inter-party government, a minority government, dependent on the support ofClann na Poblachta.
The Dáil election was followed by an election to the8th Seanad.
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