electionstracker

Ireland 1979 European Parliament election

What was the result of the 1979 European Parliament election in Ireland?

Fianna Fáil won 5 of 15 seats with 34.7% of the vote. 63.6% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • Ireland
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • ParlGov, read 5 October 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Final results from ParlGov, read : Fianna Fáil won 5 of 15 seats with 34.7% of the vote; 63.6% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • Fianna Fáil 5 34.7%
  • Fine Gael 4 33.1%
  • Labour Party 4 14.5%
  • Independent -- Thomas (TJ) Maher 1 6.4%
  • Independent Fianna Fáil 1 6.1%
  • Workers' Party 0 3.3%
  • Seats won
  • Share of the vote

Key numbers

  1. 34.7%

    Share of the vote won by Fianna Fáil

    It led Fine Gael by 1.6 points of the vote.

  2. 63.6%

    Voter turnout

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats%Votes
Fianna Fáil534.7464,450
Fine Gael433.1443,652
Labour Party414.5193,898
Independent -- Thomas (TJ) Maher16.486,208
Independent Fianna Fáil16.181,522
Workers' Party03.343,943
Votes by party
  • Fianna Fáil 464,450
  • Fine Gael 443,652
  • Labour Party 193,898
  • Independent -- Thomas (TJ) Maher 86,208
  • Independent Fianna Fáil 81,522
  • Workers' Party 43,943

ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.

How many people voted?

63.6% of the 2,188,798 registered voters cast a ballot (1,392,285 ballots). 1,339,072 of them were valid votes.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Fianna Fáil34.7% of votes33.3% of seats
  • Fine Gael33.1% of votes26.7% of seats
  • Labour Party14.5% of votes26.7% of seats
  • Independent -- Thomas (TJ) Maher6.4% of votes6.7% of seats
  • Independent Fianna Fáil6.1% of votes6.7% of seats
  • Workers' Party3.3% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 10.1 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.8 by votes and 3.8 by seats; Fianna Fáil led Fine Gael by 1.6 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of