1948 Irish general election
election to the 13th Dáil
The 1948 Irish general election to the 13th Dáil was held on Wednesday, 4 February following the dissolution of the 12th Dáil on 12 January 1948 by the President Seán T. O'Kelly on the request of Taoiseach Éamon de Valera. The general election took place in 40 constituencies throughout Ireland for 147 seats in Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas. A revision of Dáil constituencies under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1947 had increased the number of seats by 9 since the previous election. The election resulted in Fianna Fáil leaving government for the first time in 16 years and the formation of the first coalition government in Ireland.
The constituency of Carlow–Kilkenny voted on 8 February after the death during the campaign of Fine Gael candidate Eamonn Coogan TD. Another Fine Gael deputy in the same constituency, James Hughes, had died shortly before the dissolution.
The 13th Dáil met at Leinster House on 18 February to nominate the Taoiseach for appointment by the president and to approve the appointment of a new government of Ireland on the nomination of the Taoiseach. John A. Costello was appointed leading the first inter-party government, a five-party minority coalition.
This election was the last one before Ireland's withdrawal from the British Commonwealth and the declaration of the Republic of Ireland, which came into effect on 18 April 1949 under The Republic of Ireland Act 1948.
Campaign
The general election of 1948 was called by the Taoiseach Éamon de Valera, in the hope of stopping the rise of a new party, Clann na Poblachta. In 1947 the rapid rise of Clann na Poblachta threatened the position of Fianna Fáil.
The public source identifies “1948 Irish general election” as election to the 13th Dáil. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Irish, general and election.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2708652. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1948, 1947 and 1949.
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