University of Dublin (constituency)

University of Dublin is a university constituency in Ireland, which has been used to elect members of various legislative bodies including currently Seanad Éireann. Alternative names are Dublin University or Trinity College, Dublin. As it has been in existence since 1603, except for a brief period 1936–37, it could be considered the country's oldest constituency.

Summary

From To Chamber Members
1613 1800 House of Commons of Ireland 2
1801 1832 House of Commons of the United Kingdom 1
1832 1922 House of Commons of the United Kingdom 2
1921 1922 House of Commons of Southern Ireland 4
1922 1923 Dáil Éireann 4
1923 1937 Dáil Éireann 3
1938 present Seanad Éireann 3

Note on official names: (1923) Electoral Act 1923, "Dublin University"; (1938) Seanad Electoral (University Members) Act 1937, "the University of Dublin shall be a constituency (in this Act referred to as the Dublin University constituency)."

Representation

House of Commons of Ireland

This university constituency was first enfranchised as a Parliamentary constituency in 1603. It was given two members in the Parliament of Ireland.

The university was not represented in the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, under the Instrument of Government, after it was established in 1654. Following the restoration of the King in 1660 the Parliament of Ireland was re-established and the constituency again returned two Members of Parliament. See First Protectorate Parliament for the list of Irish constituencies during the Protectorate.

House of Commons of the United Kingdom

Dublin University
Former University constituency
for the House of Commons
1801–1922

The Act of Union 1800 provided for the Parliament of Ireland to be merged with the Parliament of Great Britain, to form the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The 300 seats in the Irish House of Commons were reduced to 100 Irish members in the United Kingdom House of Commons. As part of the reduction, the University was only to have one seat in Parliament.

The union took effect on 1 January 1801. There was no new election for the members of the 1st Parliament of the United Kingdom, as the House of Commons was composed of members elected to the previous Parliaments of Ireland and Great Britain.

Irish constituencies with two members to be reduced to one, had their first United Kingdom MP selected by the drawing of lots. The Hon. George Knox was chosen to sit in the House of Commons for the University.

As a result of the Irish part of the Reform Act 1832 the University was given a second seat in Parliament.

Dublin University continued to be represented in the House of Commons until the dissolution of Parliament on 26 October 1922, shortly before the Irish Free State became a dominion outside the United Kingdom on 6 December 1922.

House of Commons of Southern Ireland

The Government of Ireland Act 1920 established a devolved home rule legislature, within the United Kingdom, for twenty-six Irish counties which were designated Southern Ireland.

Dublin University was given four seats in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. The seats were filled by Unionist MPs who were returned unopposed. They were the only MPs who attended the abortive first meeting of the House.

The Parliament was dissolved as part of the arrangements under the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922.

Dáil Éireann

In the United Kingdom general election, 1918 Sinn Féin contested the election on the basis that they would not take seats in the United Kingdom Parliament but would establish a revolutionary assembly in Dublin.

The University was, in Irish republican theory, entitled to return two Teachtaí Dála (known in English as Deputies) in 1918 to serve in the Irish Republic's First Dáil. This revolutionary body assembled on 21 January 1919.

In republican theory every MP elected in Ireland, including two unionists from Dublin University, was a member of the First Dáil. In practice only Sinn Féin members participated.

The First Dáil passed a motion at its last meeting on 10 May 1921, the first three parts of which make explicit the republican view.

The Second Dáil first met on 16 August 1921, thereby dissolving the First Dáil.

Sinn Féin had decided to use the polls for the Northern Ireland House of Commons and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland as an election for the Irish Republic's Second Dáil. No actual voting was necessary in Southern Ireland as all the seats were filled by unopposed returns. Except for this University all other constituencies elected Sinn Féin TDs. The University elected four Independent Unionist members unopposed. As with the First Dáil, those Deputies could have joined the Dáil if they chose.

The Third Dáil elected in 1922 was, in United Kingdom law, the constituent assembly for the Irish Free State. From this time the Dáil represented only the twenty-six Irish counties and not the six counties of Northern Ireland. Non-Sinn Féin Deputies, including those from the University, began to participate in the Dáil.

In the Electoral Act 1923 (No. 12/1923), the Irish Free State defined its own Dáil constituencies. Dublin University was reduced to three seats.

The Constitution (Amendment No. 23) Act 1936 (No. 17/1936) repealed the Irish Free State constitutional provision for University representation in Dáil Éireann, with effect from the next dissolution of the Oireachtas which took place on 14 June 1937.

Seanad Éireann

When Ireland adopted a new constitution, in 1937, this provided for the universities to be represented in a re-established Seanad Éireann (the Free State Seanad having been abolished in 1936).

The Seanad Electoral (University Members) Act 1937 (No. 30/1937) gave effect to the new constitutional provision. The election to the Seanad took place in 1938. The 2nd Seanad first met on 27 April 1938.

Dublin University sends three members to the Seanad.

Boundaries

This constituency was the non-territorial University constituency of Dublin University also sometimes referred to as Trinity College, Dublin.

Electorate

A Topographical Directory of Ireland, published in 1837, describes the Parliamentary history of the university.

By charter of James I. the university returned two members to the Irish parliament till the Union; after which time it returned only one member to the Imperial parliament, till the recent Reform act, since which it has returned two. The right of election, which was originally vested solely in the provost, fellows, and scholars, has, by the same act, been extended to all members of the age of 21 years, who had obtained, or should hereafter obtain, a fellowship, scholarship, or the degree of Master of Arts, and whose names should be on the college books : members thus qualified, who had removed their names from the books, were allowed six months to restore them, on paying a fee of £2, and such as continued their names, merely to qualify them to vote, pay annually to the college the sum of £1, or a composition of £5 in lieu of annual payment. The number of names restored under this provision was 3005, and at present the constituency amounts to 3135. The provost is the returning officer.

When electoral registration was introduced, in 1832, there were 2,073 voters on the register. It is likely that most of them were also qualified to vote in one or more of the territorial constituencies. It was characteristic of the University constituencies in the UK Parliament that plural voting was the norm.

In 1918, the electorate was extended to include all registered graduates of the University and some female voters were allowed for the first time. Male graduates qualified to vote if they had attained the age of 21 but female ones had to be at least 30 to acquire the franchise. There were 4,541 voters registered for the 1918 general election. Most, if not all, of those electors would have been plural voters also entitled to vote in a territorial constituency.

In the Electoral Act 1923, the Irish Free State abolished plural voting for University constituencies and enfranchised women on the same terms as men. Qualified voters could then decide whether to register for a University or a territorial constituency but not for both. Universal adult suffrage was not introduced in the UK until 1928. Plural voting was not abolished for UK elections until 1950.

The qualifications for an elector to be registered as a University voter were set out in Section 1(2)(c) of the 1923 Act. They were to be registered at "the University constituency comprising a university in which he or she has received a degree other than an honorary degree or, in the case of the University of Dublin, has received such degree as aforesaid, or obtained a foundation scholarship, or, if a woman, obtained a non-foundation scholarship".

When the constituency was abolished in 1936, voters resident in the State automatically had their Dáil registration switched to the geographical constituency of their registered address.[1] When the constituency was revived under the 1937 Constitution, eligible voters retained any Dáil geographical constituency vote in parallel to their new Seanad vote.

Politics of the constituency

Throughout the history of this constituency, during the union, it supported (usually very strongly) Tory, Conservative and Unionist candidates (including the Liberal Unionist and Independent Unionist members).

The only partial exception was the tenure of the Whig MP, William Plunket, 1st Baron Plunket, in 1812-1827. It should be noted that Plunket accepted office in what in retrospect are considered Tory governments. Given the state of the party system in the early 19th century, when William Pitt the Younger (now considered a Tory Prime Minister) called himself a Whig, it is not too surprising that Plunket was his Attorney General for Ireland. It is surprising that Plunket did not follow most of Pitt's supporters in calling himself a Tory soon after the Prime Minister's death. It is astonishing that a Whig was again Attorney General for Ireland in the Earl of Liverpool's very Tory ministry between 1822 and 1827. Plunket was perhaps more an 18th-century than a 19th-century Whig, so as to be acceptable to the university electorate.

Since 1922, most of the representatives of the University have been Independent members of the Oireachtas.

Electoral System

Until 1918 and for the 1919 by-election, in elections to fill a single seat, the first past the post system applied.

In two-member elections before 1918, the bloc voting system was used. Voters could cast a vote for one or two candidates, as they chose. The two candidates with the largest number of votes were elected.

In 1918 and for all elections since 1921, the members were elected by the single transferable vote system of proportional representation.

Representatives

Members of Parliament (Ireland)

Members of Parliament (United Kingdom) 1801–1922

First Seat (1801–1922) Second Seat (1832–1922)
From To Name Party Born Died From To Name Party Born Died
1801 1807 Hon. George Knox Tory 14 January 1765 13 June 1827
1807 1812 John Leslie Foster Tory c. 1781 10 July 1842
1812 1827 William Conyngham Plunket Whig 1 July 1764 5 January 1854
1827 1830 John Wilson Croker Tory 20 December 1780 10 August 1857
1830 1841 Thomas Langlois Lefroy Tory, Con 8 January 1776 4 May 1869
1832 1848 Sir Frederick Shaw, 3rd Baronet Con 11 December 1799 30 June 1876
1842 1842 Joseph Devonsher Jackson Con 23 June 1783 19 December 1857
1843 1859 George Alexander Hamilton Con 29 August 1802 17 September 1871
1848 1858 Joseph Napier Con 26 December 1804 9 December 1882
1859 1866 James Whiteside Con 12 August 1804 25 November 1876 1858 1870 Anthony Lefroy Con 1800 12 January 1890
1866 1867 John Edward Walsh Con 12 November 1816 20 October 1869
1867 1867 Hedges Eyre Chatterton Con 5 July 1819 30 August 1910
1867 1868 Robert Warren Con 3 June 1817 24 September 1897
1868 1875 John Thomas Ball Con 24 July 1815 17 March 1898
1870 1895 David Plunket Con 3 December 1838 22 August 1919
1875 1885 Edward Gibson Con 4 September 1837 22 May 1913
1885 1887 Hugh Holmes Con 17 February 1840 19 April 1916
1887 1892 Dodgson Hamilton Madden IU 28 March 1840 6 March 1928
1892 1918 Sir Edward Carson IU 9 February 1854 22 October 1935
1895 1903 William E. H. Lecky LU 26 March 1838 22 October 1903
1903 1917 James Campbell IU 4 April 1851 22 March 1931
1918 1922 Sir Robert Henry Woods Ind U 1865 8 September 1938
1917 1919 Arthur Warren Samuels IU 19 May 1852 11 May 1925
1919 1922 William Morgan Jellett IU 19 May 1857 27 October 1936

Deputies 1921–1937

Note: MPs in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland 1921–1922 are included as they were potential members of the Second Dáil Éireann. They first took their seats in the "Provisional Parliament" or "Third Dáil" in September 1922

From To Name Party Born Died
1921 1937 Ernest Alton Ind. Unionist, Ind 1873 18 February 1952
1921 1933 Sir James Craig Ind. Unionist, Ind 12 July 1933
1921 1923 Gerald Fitzgibbon Ind. Unionist, Ind 1866 6 December 1942
1921 1937 William Thrift Ind. Unionist, Ind 28 February 1870 23 April 1942
1933 1937 Robert Rowlette Independent 1873 13 October 1944

Senators from 1938

From To Name Party Born Died
1938 1943 Ernest Alton Ind 1873 18 February 1952
1938 1943 Joseph Johnston Ind 1890 1972
1938 1944 Robert Rowlette Ind 1873 13 October 1944
1943 1959 William Fearon Ind 1892 27 December 1959
1943 1947 T. C. Kingsmill Moore Ind 1893 21 January 1979
1944 1948 Joseph Johnston Ind 1890 1972
1947 1951 Joseph Warwick Bigger Ind 11 September 1891 17 August 1951
1948 1969 William Bedell Stanford Ind 16 January 1910 30 December 1984
1951 1951 Frederick Budd Ind 11 February 1904 1976
1952 1954 William J.E. Jessop Ind 13 July 1902 11 June 1980
1954 1961 Owen Sheehy-Skeffington Ind 19 May 1909 7 June 1970
1960 1973 William J.E. Jessop Ind 13 July 1902 11 June 1980
1961 1965 John N. Ross Ind 1920 24 December 2011
1965 1970 Owen Sheehy-Skeffington Ind 19 May 1909 7 June 1970
1969 1989 Mary Robinson Ind, Lab, Ind 21 May 1944
1970 1981 Trevor West Ind 8 May 1938 30 October 2012
1973 1977 Noël Browne SLP 20 December 1915 23 May 1997
1977 1979 Conor Cruise O'Brien Ind 3 November 1917 18 December 2008
1979 1982 Catherine McGuinness Ind 14 November 1934
1981 2011 Shane Ross Ind 11 July 1949
1982 1982 Trevor West Ind 8 May 1938 30 October 2012
1983 1987 Catherine McGuinness Ind 14 November 1934
1987 1993 Carmencita Hederman Ind 23 October 1939
1987 Incumbent David Norris Ind 1 July 1944
1993 2007 Mary Henry Ind 11 May 1940
2007 Incumbent Ivana Bacik Ind, Lab 25 May 1968
2011 Incumbent Sean Barrett Ind 1944

Elections

From 1832 (when registers of electors were first prepared) a turnout figure is given, for the percentage of the registered electors who voted. If the number of registered electors eligible to take part in a contested election is unknown, then the last known electorate figure is used to calculate an estimated turnout. If the numbers of registered electors and electors taking part in the poll are known, an exact turnout figure is calculated. In two member bloc vote elections (in which an elector could cast one or two votes as he chose), where the exact number of electors participating is unknown, an estimated turnout figure is given. This is calculated by dividing the total number of votes cast by two. To the extent that electors used only one of their votes the estimated turnout figure is an underestimate.

House of Commons (United Kingdom)

1800s – 1810s – 1820s – 1830s – 1840s – 1850s – 1860s – 1870s – 1880s – 1890s – 1900s – 1910s –

Elections in the 1800s

Elections in the 1810s

Elections in the 1820s

Elections in the 1830s

Elections in the 1840s

Elections in the 1850s

Elections in the 1860s

Elections in the 1870s

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1910s

Dáil Éireann elections

1921 general election

1921 general election: Dublin University[2]
Party Candidate 1st Pref % Seat Count
Independent Unionist Ernest Alton Unopposed N/A 1
Independent Unionist Sir James Craig Unopposed N/A 2
Independent Unionist Gerald Fitzgibbon Unopposed N/A 3
Independent Unionist William Thrift Unopposed N/A 4

1922 general election

1922 general election: Dublin University[3]
Party Candidate 1st Pref % Seat Count
Independent Ernest Alton Unopposed N/A 1
Independent Sir James Craig Unopposed N/A 2
Independent Gerald Fitzgibbon Unopposed N/A 3
Independent William Thrift Unopposed N/A 4
Electorate: 1,150   Valid:   Quota:   Turnout:

1923 general election

1923 general election: Dublin University[4]
Party Candidate 1st Pref % Seat Count
Independent Ernest Alton Unopposed N/A 1
Independent Sir James Craig Unopposed N/A 2
Independent William Thrift Unopposed N/A 3
Electorate: 1,400   Valid:   Quota:   Turnout:

June 1927 general election

June 1927 general election: Dublin University[5]
Party Candidate % 1st Pref Count 1 Count 2Count 3
Independent William Thrift 38.6 614    
Independent Sir James Craig 22.4 356 415  
Independent Ernest Alton 18.1 287 386 398
Independent Bolton C. Waller 20.9 332 386 391
Electorate: 2,069   Valid: 1,589   Quota: 398   Turnout: 76.8%

September 1927 general election

September 1927 general election: Dublin University[6]
Party Candidate 1st Pref % Seat Count
Independent Ernest Alton Unopposed N/A 1
Independent Sir James Craig Unopposed N/A 2
Independent William Thrift Unopposed N/A 3

1932 general election

1932 general election: Dublin University[7]
Party Candidate 1st Pref % Seat Count
Independent Ernest Alton Unopposed N/A 1
Independent Sir James Craig Unopposed N/A 2
Independent William Thrift Unopposed N/A 3

1933 general election

1933 general election: Dublin University[8]
Party Candidate 1st Pref % Seat Count
Independent Ernest Alton Unopposed N/A 1
Independent Sir James Craig Unopposed N/A 2
Independent William Thrift Unopposed N/A 3
Electorate: 3,260   Valid:   Quota:   Turnout:

1933 by-election

Following the death of independent TD Sir James Craig, a by-election was held on 13 October 1933. The seat was won by the independent candidate Robert Rowlette.

1933 by-election: Dublin University[9]
Party Candidate 1st Pref % Seat Count
Independent Robert Rowlette Unopposed N/A 1

Seanad Éireann elections

1944 Seanad election

1944 Seanad election: Dublin University
Party Candidate 1st Pref % Seat Count
Independent T.C. Kingsmill Moore 755 32.9 1 1
Independent William Fearon 621 16.0 2 1
Independent Joseph Johnston 437 19.0 3 4
Independent Robert Rowlette 419 18.2
Independent E. O'Mahoney 65 2.8
Electorate: 3,886   Valid: 2,297   Quota: 575   Turnout: 59.1%[10]

2002 Seanad election

2002 Seanad election: Dublin University
Party Candidate 1st Pref % Seat Count
Independent David Norris 3,493 24.5 1 5
Independent Shane Ross 3,465 24.3 2 5
Independent Mary Henry 2,123 14.9 3 10
Independent Ivana Bacik 1,591 11.2
Independent Sean Barrett 994 7.0
Independent Maurice Gueret 780 5.5
Independent Rosaleen McDonagh 733 5.2
Independent P.J. O'Meara 265 1.9
Independent David Martin 212 1.5
Independent Prabu Kulkarni 185 1.3
Independent Gerard McHugh 156 1.1
Independent Anthony O'Donnell 142 1.0
Independent Declan Boland 98 0.7
Electorate: 38,488   Valid: 14,237   Quota: 3,560   Turnout: 37.0%

References

  1. ↑ "Electoral (University Constituencies) Act, 1936". Irish Statute Book. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "General election 1921: Dublin University". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
  3. ↑ "General election 1922: Dublin University". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
  4. ↑ "General election 1923: Dublin University". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  5. ↑ "General election June 1927: Dublin University". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  6. ↑ "General election September 1927: Dublin University". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  7. ↑ "General election 1933: Dublin University". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  8. ↑ "General election 1933: Dublin University". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  9. ↑ "General election 1933: Dublin University". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  10. ↑ The Irish Times, 2 August 1944, p 1

External links

See also