There were two governments of the16th Dáil, which was elected at the1957 general election held on 5 March. The outgoing minority coalition government ofFine Gael, theLabour Party andClann na Talmhan had failed to be returned. The8th government of Ireland (20 March 1957 – 23 June 1959) was led byÉamon de Valera asTaoiseach, until his election aspresident of Ireland at the1959 election. It lasted for 2 years, 89 days from its appointment until de Valera's resignation on 17 June 1959, and continued to carry out its duties for a further 6 days until the appointment of its successor, giving a total of 2 years, 95 days. The9th government of Ireland (23 June 1959 – 11 November 1961) was led bySeán Lemass as Taoiseach and lasted for 2 years, 141 days. Both were single-partyFianna Fáil governments.

8th government of Ireland
Government of Ireland
Date formed	20 March 1957
Date dissolved	23 June 1959
People and organisations
President	Seán T. O'Kelly
Taoiseach	Éamon de Valera
Tánaiste	Seán Lemass
Totalno. of members	13
Member party	Fianna Fáil
Status in legislature	Majority government
Opposition party	Fine Gael
Opposition leader	John A. Costello
History
Election	1957 general election
Legislature terms	16th Dáil 9th Seanad
Predecessor	7th government
Successor	9th government

The16th Dáil first met on 20 March 1957. In the debate on thenomination of Taoiseach,Fianna Fáil leaderÉamon de Valera was proposed and this motion was carried with 78 votes in favour and 53 votes against.^[1] De Valera was appointed as Taoiseach byPresidentSeán T. O'Kelly.^[2]

20 March 1957 Nomination ofÉamon de Valera (FF) as Taoiseach[3] Motion proposed bySeán Lemass and seconded bySeán MacEntee Absolute majority: 74/147
Vote	Parties	Votes
YYes	Fianna Fáil (76),Independent (2)	78 / 147
No	Fine Gael (39),Labour Party (10),Clann na Talmhan (3),Independent (1)	53 / 147
Absent or Not voting	Ceann Comhairle (1),Fianna Fáil (2),Fine Gael (1),Labour Party (1),Clann na Poblachta (1),Independent (6)	12 / 147
Abstentionist	Sinn Féin (4)	4 / 147

After his appointment as Taoiseach by the president, Éamon de Valera proposed the members of the government and they were approved by the Dáil.^[4] They were appointed by the president on the same day.^[5]

On 21 March 1957, the Government appointed theParliamentary Secretaries on the nomination of the Taoiseach.^[5]

On 29 October 1958,William Norton,leader of the Labour Party, tabled avote of no confidence in the government.James Dillon andLiam Cosgrave ofFine Gael proposed an amendment to the motion.^[16] Both the amendment and the motion were defeated the following day on a vote of 54 to 71.^[17]

The government proposed theThird Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1958, which would have altered the electoral system fromproportional representation by means of thesingle transferable vote tofirst past the post. It was put to a referendum on 17 June 1959, the same date as the presidential election. It was defeated by a margin of 48.2% to 51.8% of votes cast.

On 17 June 1959,Éamon de Valera waselected aspresident of Ireland and he resigned as Taoiseach on that day.^[18][19] Under Article 28.11 of the Constitution, all members of the government are deemed to have resigned on the resignation of the Taoiseach, but they continued to carry on their duties until the appointment of their successors.^[20]

9th government of Ireland
9thGovernment of Ireland
Date formed	23 June 1959
Date dissolved	11 October 1961
People and organisations
President	Éamon de Valera
Taoiseach	Seán Lemass
Tánaiste	Seán MacEntee
Totalno. of members	14
Member party	Fianna Fáil
Status in legislature	Majority government
Opposition party	Fine Gael
Opposition leader	James Dillon
History
Legislature terms	16th Dáil 9th Seanad
Predecessor	8th government
Successor	10th government

Éamon de Valera resigned asleader of Fianna Fáil after his election as president of Ireland and Seán Lemass waselected unopposed to succeed him on 22 June 1959.

On 23 June 1959, in the debate on thenomination of Taoiseach, Fianna Fáil leader Seán Lemass was proposed. This motion was carried with 75 votes in favour to 51 votes against.^[21] Lemass was appointed as Taoiseach byPresidentSeán T. O'Kelly.^[22] It was the first time there was a change of Taoiseach within a Dáil term.

23 June 1959 Nomination ofSeán Lemass (FF) as Taoiseach[23] Motion proposed bySeán MacEntee and seconded byJames Ryan Absolute majority: 74/147
Vote	Parties	Votes
YYes	Fianna Fáil (72),Independent (3)	75 / 147
No	Fine Gael (37),Labour Party (9),Clann na Talmhan (3),Clann na Poblachta (1),Independent (1)	51 / 147
Absent or Not voting	Ceann Comhairle (1),Fianna Fáil (3),Fine Gael (3),Labour Party (2),Independent (5)	14 / 147
Abstentionist	Sinn Féin (4)	4 / 147
Vacancies	3[24][19]	3 / 147

After his appointment as Taoiseach by the president, Seán Lemass proposed the members of the government and they were approved by the Dáil.^[25] They were appointed by the president on 24 June 1959.^[26]

On 24 June 1959, the government appointed theParliamentary Secretaries on the nomination of the Taoiseach.^[26]

• "Sixteenth Dáil".Government of Ireland. Department of the Taoiseach. 28 November 2017.

• Governments of Ireland
• 1957 establishments in Ireland
• 1961 disestablishments in Ireland
• Cabinets established in 1957
• Cabinets established in 1961
• 16th Dáil

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