Irish General Election to be Held on 29 November 2024
Following months of speculation that a general election would be called before the end of 2024, Ireland is finally set to head to the polls later this month. The short election campaign, coming at the end of a year of global elections which significantly shifted the geopolitical landscape, will likely be dominated by key voter issues such as housing, cost of living, healthcare, immigration, and infrastructure challenges.
What happened?
- Ireland’s Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Simon Harris announced on Friday that a General Election will be held on 29 November 2024. He spoke on the steps of Government Buildings before travelling to meet President Michael D Higgins to seek the dissolution of the Dáil (Ireland’s parliament) for an election to be held.
- His announcement marks the end of the Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil/Green Party coalition government formed in the aftermath of the February 2020 General Election.
- In calling the election, Taoiseach Harris (Fine Gael) said “Our coalition delivered five progressive budgets, budgets that protected our people during the covid-pandemic, during Russia’s ongoing illegal invasion of Ukraine, and the cost of living crisis that flowed from the return of the war to Europe, our coalition is delivering new homes across our country, and it has built up the finances and the plans to deliver the homes that our people need in the future, the time is now right to ask the Irish people to give a new mandate.”
- Micheal Martin (Fianna Fáil) commented “This is an election about Ireland’s future. It’s about how we can protect our many strengths and overcome deep challenges,” promising that the Fianna Fáil campaign will put “policy before politics” and “substance before soundbite”. He said new policies would focus on “tackling high prices, on helping people to buy or rent a home, on expanding health services, supporting education, tackling crime, and on many other areas and we will lay out plans for leading Ireland through any new international turmoil which may arise.”
- Speaking to media, Sinn Féin leader, Mary Lou McDonald said the electorate have a “very straightforward choice, which is either more of the same, another Fine Gael- and Fianna Fáil-led Government, or for the first time a Government led by Sinn Féin”. She added that she believes housing will be the biggest issue of the campaign, noting: “If society and if Government continues to fail in this area, there are economic and social consequences that are profound and far-reaching”.
Where the polls stand
What happens next
- The announcement marks the start of a three-week campaign before voting takes place on Friday, 29 November to elect 174 TDs (members of parliament) across 43 constituencies.
- With no electronic voting and Ireland’s Proportional Representation by Single Transferable Vote (PR-STV) voting system, counting can take several days. Early tallies may give some indication, but it will be well into the first week of December before a clear picture emerges and all successful candidates have been declared elected.
- As things currently stand in the polls, and has been the case in recent history, the next government may be a coalition of a number of parties. Throughout the campaign, there will likely be an ongoing discussion about which parties are open or opposed to forming a government together, as well as their non-negotiable issues. This will be especially relevant for the outgoing government parties and whether they might consider reforming if the numbers allow.
- The key issues for voters this election will be housing, cost of living, healthcare, and immigration. The cost of doing business is also high on the agenda for many, as well as infrastructure, competitiveness and what each party is proposing to do with the proceeds from the Apple Tax fund.
- Parties have begun issuing some topic manifestos with Sinn Fein publishing their Health Manifesto last week and the Labour party releasing their Housing Plan today. However, no party has published their election manifesto – when they do, we will follow-up with a further note.
For more information, please reach out to the FTI Consulting Dublin team.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of FTI Consulting, its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals.
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