| Election Name: | 1981 Irish general election |
| Country: | Ireland |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1977 Irish general election |
| Previous Year: | 1977 |
| Previous Mps: | 21st Dáil |
| Next Election: | February 1982 Irish general election |
| Seats For Election: | 166 seats in Dáil Éireann |
| Majority Seats: | 84 |
| Election Date: | 11 June 1981 |
| Elected Mps: | 22nd Dáil |
| Leader1: | Charles Haughey |
| Leader Since1: | 7 December 1979 |
| Party1: | Fianna Fáil |
| Leaders Seat1: | Dublin North-Central |
| Last Election1: | 84 seats, 50.6% |
| Seats1: | 78 |
| Seat Change1: | 6 |
| Percentage1: | 45.3% |
| Swing1: | 5.3% |
| Leader2: | Garret FitzGerald |
| Leader Since2: | 1977 |
| Party2: | Fine Gael |
| Leaders Seat2: | Dublin South-East |
| Last Election2: | 43 seats, 30.5% |
| Seats2: | 65 |
| Seat Change2: | 22 |
| Percentage2: | 36.5% |
| Swing2: | 6.0% |
| Image3: | Lab |
| Leader3: | Frank Cluskey |
| Leader Since3: | 1977 |
| Party3: | Labour Party (Ireland) |
| Leaders Seat3: | Dublin South-Central (defeated) |
| Last Election3: | 17 seats, 11.6% |
| Seats3: | 15 |
| Seat Change3: | 2 |
| Percentage3: | 9.9% |
| Swing3: | 1.7% |
| Image4: | AHB |
| Leader4: | Anti H-Block Committee |
| Leader Since4: | N/A |
| Party4: | Anti H-Block |
| Leaders Seat4: | N/A |
| Last Election4: | New |
| Seats4: | 2 |
| Seat Change4: | New |
| Percentage4: | 2.5% |
| Swing4: | New |
| Leader5: | Tomás Mac Giolla |
| Leader Since5: | 1977 |
| Party5: | Sinn Féin The Workers' Party |
| Leaders Seat5: | N/A |
| Last Election5: | 0 seats, 1.7% |
| Seats5: | 1 |
| Seat Change5: | 1 |
| Percentage5: | 1.7% |
| Image6: | SLP |
| Leader6: | Noël Browne |
| Leader Since6: | 1981 |
| Party6: | Socialist Labour Party (Ireland) |
| Leaders Seat6: | Dublin North-Central |
| Last Election6: | New |
| Seats6: | 1 |
| Seat Change6: | New |
| Percentage6: | 0.4% |
| Swing6: | New |
| Taoiseach | |
| Posttitle: | Taoiseach after election |
| Before Election: | Charles Haughey |
| Before Party: | Fianna Fáil |
| After Election: | Garret FitzGerald |
| After Party: | Fine Gael |
| Turnout: | 76.2% 0.1pp |
The 1981 Irish general election to the 22nd Dáil was held on Thursday, 11 June, following the dissolution of the 21st Dáil on 21 May by President Patrick Hillery on the request of Taoiseach Charles Haughey. The general election took place in 41 Dáil constituencies throughout Ireland for 166 seats in Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas. The number of seats in the Dáil was increased by 18 from 148 under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1980.
The 22nd Dáil met at Leinster House on 30 June to nominate the Taoiseach for appointment by the president and to approve the appointment of a new government of Ireland. Garret FitzGerald was appointed Taoiseach, forming the 17th government of Ireland, a minority coalition government of Fine Gael and the Labour Party.
The general election of 1981 was the first one of five during the 1980s. The election also saw three new leaders of the three main parties fight their first general election. Charles Haughey had become Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil at the end of 1979, Garret FitzGerald was the new leader of Fine Gael and Frank Cluskey was leading the Labour Party.
Haughey and Fianna Fáil seemed extremely popular with the electorate in early 1981. He was expected to call the election at the time of the Fianna Fáil ardfheis on 14 February, but the Stardust fire caused the ardfheis to be postponed, and the Republican hunger strike in the Maze Prison began in March.[1] By the dissolution in May, much of the earlier optimism in the party had filtered out. The Anti H-Block movement fielded abstentionist candidates in solidarity with the hunger strikers, undermining the Republican credentials of Fianna Fáil.
Fianna Fáil's manifesto promised more spending programmes and Fine Gael put forward a series of tax-cutting plans.
|}Independents include Independent Fianna Fáil (13,546 votes, 1 seat).
Fianna Fáil lost seats as a result of sympathy to the Anti H-Block candidates and the attractive tax proposals of Fine Gael. It was the worst performance for Fianna Fáil in twenty years. Meanwhile, Labour Party leader Frank Cluskey lost his seat, necessitating a leadership change with Michael O'Leary succeeding Cluskey. A Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition government came to power. Fine Gael and the Labour Party formed the 17th Government of Ireland, a minority coalition government, with Garret FitzGerald becoming Taoiseach.
The following changes took place at this election:
Where more than one change took place in a constituency the concept of successor is an approximation for presentation only.Where a number of related constituency changes took place in an area, such as Cork, the outgoing constituency for retiring TDs and the allocation of new seats are approximations for presentation only.Outgoing TDs re-elected in a new constituency, with no related changes, are not recorded as a change
The Dáil election was followed by an election to the 15th Seanad.