31st Dáil explained
The 31st Dáil was elected at the 2011 general election on 25 February 2011 and first met at midday on 9 March 2011 in Leinster House.[1] The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature) of Ireland, are known as TDs. It sat with the 24th Seanad as the two Houses of the Oireachtas.
The 2011 election saw 17 Dáil constituencies return 3 TDs each, 15 constituencies return 4 TDs each and 11 constituencies return 5 TDs each, for a total of 166. Seán Barrett was elected as Ceann Comhairle in the first sitting of the Dáil.[2] For the first time, Fine Gael, led by Enda Kenny, became the largest party. It formed a coalition government with the Labour Party, led by Eamon Gilmore, who had achieved their highest number of seats in the party's history. In July 2014, Joan Burton won a Labour Party leadership election to become the leader of the Labour Party and Tánaiste.
Fianna Fáil secured 20 seats, the lowest in the party's history, and was the largest opposition party. The leader of the party, Micheál Martin became the Leader of the Opposition. Gerry Adams as leader of Sinn Féin became the second opposition leader. A technical group was formed following the election composed of 16 independent politicians and members of the United Left Alliance, who failed to win enough seats to gain speaking rights.[3]
Almost half of the members of the 30th Dáil were absent from the 31st: 31 members retired before the poll and a further 45 TDs lost their seats at the election. 76 new TDs were elected to the Dáil, 46% of the total.[4]
The 31st Dáil was dissolved by President Michael D. Higgins on 3 February 2016, at the request of the Taoiseach Enda Kenny.[5] The 31st Dáil lasted days.
Composition of the 31st Dáil
| Party | Feb. 2011 | Jan. 2016 |
|---|
| Fine Gael | 76 | 66 |
| Labour | 37 | 33 |
| 20 | 21 |
| 14 | 14 |
| 2 | |
| 2 | |
| 1 | 1 |
| 14 | 19 |
| | 1 |
| | 4 |
| | 3 |
| | 3 |
| | 1 |
| Total | 166 | |
Government coalition parties are denoted with bullets
Graphical representation
The following illustrates the composition of the 31st Dáil at the time of its first sitting on 9 March 2011 (after Seán Barrett (Fine Gael) took office as Ceann Comhairle). This is not the official seating plan. The government parties sit to the left of the Ceann Comhairle and opposition parties sit to the right.
The following illustrates the composition at the time of its dissolution in February 2016.
Government
Opposition
- NoteThe Socialist Party, People Before Profit Alliance, Workers and Unemployed Action Group and some Independent TDs sat together as a technical group, which was later joined by Renua and the Social Democrats.
Ceann Comhairle
On 9 March 2011, Seán Barrett (FG) was proposed by Enda Kenny for the position of Ceann Comhairle. He was approved without a vote.[6]
Leadership
Government
Opposition
Committees
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Andrew Doyle (Fine Gael)
- Vice Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pat Deering (Fine Gael)
- Chairwoman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection: Joanna Tuffy (Labour Party)
- Vice Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection: Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour Party)
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Michael McCarthy (Labour Party)
- Vice Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Noel Coonan (Fine Gael)
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs: Dominic Hannigan (Labour Party)
- Vice Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs: Dara Murphy (Fine Gael)
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Ciarán Lynch (Labour Party)
- Vice Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Pat Breen (Fine Gael)
- Vice Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Bernard Durkan (Fine Gael)
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children: Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
- Vice Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children: Ciara Conway (Labour Party)
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)
- Vice Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee of Inquiry: Ciarán Lynch (Labour Party)
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Féin)
- Vice Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Derek Nolan (Labour Party)
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Damien English (Fine Gael)
- Vice Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: John Lyons (Labour Party)
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Select Committee on Members' Interests of Dáil Éireann: Thomas Pringle (Independent)
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Select Committee on Procedure and Privileges (Dáil): Seán Barrett (Fine Gael)
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Sub-Committee on Administration: Joe Carey (Fine Gael)
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Sub-Committee on Dáil Reform: Paul Kehoe (Fine Gael)
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Sub-Committee on Privileges: Emmet Stagg (Labour Party)
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee: John McGuinness (Fianna Fáil)
- Vice Chairman of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee: Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael)
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications: John O'Mahony (Fine Gael)
- Vice Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications: Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)
- Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Standing Orders (Private Business): Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fáil) – Senator
List of TDs
This is a list of TDs elected to Dáil Éireann in the 2011 general election, sorted by party.[7] Note this table is a record of the 2011 general election results. The Changes table below records all changes in party affiliation.
- Notes
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: Final Day of 30th Dáil. RTÉ News. February 2011. 1 February 2011. 3 February 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110203013912/http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0201/politics.html. live.
- Web site: Dáil Éireann debate – Wednesday, 9 Mar 2011: Election of Ceann Comhairle. 9 March 2011. 12 August 2019. Houses of the Oireachtas. 12 August 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190812151117/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2011-03-09/3/. live.
- News: Collins. Stephen. Independents agree grouping. 8 March 2011. The Irish Times. 8 March 2011. 11 March 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110311204037/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0308/breaking20.html. live.
- News: Election 2011 Results: National Summary . . 1 March 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110903011006/http://www.rte.ie/news/election2011/results/index.html . 3 September 2011 .
- News: Election 2016: President Higgins dissolves 31st Dáil. . 3 February 2016. 3 February 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160203174618/http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/election-2016-president-higgins-dissolves-31st-d%C3%A1il-1.2520562. live.
- Web site: Election of Ceann Comhairle – Dáil Éireann (31st Dáil) – Vol. 728 No. 1. 9 March 2011. 13 July 2022. Houses of the Oireachtas.
- Web site: TDs & Senators (31st Dáil) . Houses of the Oireachtas .
