1997 Irish presidential election

The 1997 Irish presidential election was held on Thursday, 30 October 1997. It was the eleventh presidential election to be held in Ireland, and only the sixth to be contested by more than one candidate. It was held ahead of schedule when incumbent Mary Robinson resigned to assume her new appointment as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

1997 Irish presidential election
30 October 1997
Turnout47.6% (16.5% Decrease)
 
Mary McAleese, October 2001 (cropped).jpg
Mary Banotti, Jan 1995 (cropped).jpg
Dana Rosemary Scallon EU parliament official portrait.jpg
Nominee Mary McAleese Mary Banotti Dana Rosemary Scallon
Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Independent
Alliance Progressive Democrats[lower-alpha 1]
1st preference 574,424 (45.2%) 372,002 (29.3%) 175,458 (13.8%)
Final count 706,259 (55.6%) 497,516 (39.2%) Eliminated
 
Lab
Ind
Nominee Adi Roche Derek Nally
Party Labour Independent
Alliance
1st preference 88,423 (7.0%) 59,529 (4.7%)
Final count Eliminated Eliminated
President before election

Mary Robinson[1]

 Elected President

Mary McAleese
Fianna Fáil

Candidates

The Minister for the Environment and Local Government made the order opening nominations on 15 September, with 30 September as the deadline for nominations.[2] Five people received nominations, the highest number contesting to that point, and more remarkably, four of the five were women.

Mary McAleese

Mary McAleese was selected by Fianna Fáil as their candidate for the presidency. Born in Belfast, she was formerly a journalist with broadcaster, RTÉ, and at the time of her nomination, she was Pro-Vice Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast. Two other candidates, Albert Reynolds and Michael O'Kennedy, had also sought the Fianna Fáil nomination. Reynolds was a former Taoiseach while O'Kennedy was a former cabinet minister having served in the Finance and Foreign Affairs portfolios. Both were also sitting TDs which was seen as an advantage. In the first round of voting, Reynolds received 49 votes, McAleese 42, and O'Kennedy 21. In the second round, McAleese won, with 62 votes to Reynolds's 48. McAleese was later also endorsed by the Progressive Democrats, the smaller party in the coalition government with Fianna Fáil.[3]

Mary Banotti

Mary Banotti was nominated by Fine Gael. She was the grand-niece of the former Irish leader, Michael Collins, and sister of the deputy leader of the party, Nora Owen. She defeated colleague Avril Doyle for the party nomination in a very close contest. Banotti, who was an MEP at the time, was the only serving politician among the five presidential candidates.

Adi Roche

Adi Roche, who had founded Chernobyl Children International in 1991, was nominated by the Labour Party.[4] Roche was later endorsed by Democratic Left and the Green Party.[5] At 42 years of age, she was and is the youngest person to stand in an Irish presidential election.

Dana Rosemary Scallon

Dana Rosemary Scallon received the nominations of five county councils: Donegal, Kerry, Longford, North Tipperary and Wicklow.[6] Scallon was a singer, the winner of the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, and a family values campaigner. She was the first candidate in any Irish presidential election to have been nominated by local authorities, rather than by Oireachtas members.

Derek Nally

Derek Nally was the fifth candidate to join the presidential race and the only male candidate. He was a retired Garda and victims' rights campaigner.[7] He also received the nominations of five county councils: Carlow, Clare, Kildare, South Dublin and Wexford.[8]

Result
1997 Irish presidential election[9]
CandidateNominated by % 1st PrefCount 1Count 2
Mary McAleese Oireachtas: Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats 45.2 574,424 706,259
Mary Banotti Oireachtas: Fine Gael 29.3 372,002 497,516
Dana Rosemary Scallon County and City Councils 13.8 175,458 —
Adi Roche Oireachtas: Labour Party, Democratic Left and Green Party 6.9 88,423 —
Derek Nally County and City Councils 4.7 59,529 —
Electorate: 2,688,316   Valid: 1,269,836   Spoilt: 9,852 (0.7%)   Quota: 634,919   Turnout: 47.6%
First preference vote
McAleese
 
 45.2%
Banotti
 
 29.3%
Scallon
 
 13.8%
Roche
 
 7.0%
Nally
 
 4.7%
Final percentage
McAleese
 
 55.6%
Banotti
 
 39.2%

Results by constituency
First count votes[10]
Constituency Banotti McAleese Nally Roche Scallon
Carlow–Kilkenny 11,962 19,949 3,040 2,936 5,177
Cavan–Monaghan 9,299 21,749 1,122 1,373 6,346
Clare 8,353 17,970 1,637 1,889 5,095
Cork East 8,859 15,598 1,063 3,444 4,450
Cork North-Central 8,348 14,322 1,194 4,808 3,742
Cork North-West 8,214 13,086 776 2,291 3,567
Cork South-Central 12,609 19,410 1,894 5,434 4,461
Cork South-West 8,808 12,616 825 2,208 3,016
Donegal North-East 3,313 11,008 575 748 5,136
Donegal South-West 3,958 11,060 545 826 5,025
Dublin Central 6,864 9,226 1,175 1,605 2,920
Dublin North 10,161 12,599 1,291 1,918 3,364
Dublin North-Central 10,789 12,949 1,342 1,946 4,044
Dublin North-East 8,728 10,132 1,114 1,770 2,890
Dublin North-West 7,806 9,910 1,180 1,769 3,037
Dublin South 18,766 16,053 1,990 2,589 5,360
Dublin South-Central 10,900 10,636 1,375 1,909 3,636
Dublin South-East 12,692 9,338 1,056 1,885 3,403
Dublin South-West 8,879 10,366 1,539 1,833 3,384
Dublin West 8,965 10,678 1,504 1,675 3,363
Dún Laoghaire 18,415 14,310 1,632 2,696 4,882
Galway East 7,352 15,979 1,076 1,285 5,044
Galway West 9,495 16,707 1,437 2,012 5,320
Kerry North 5,266 10,753 689 3,039 3,367
Kerry South 5,384 11,586 778 2,075 3,162
Kildare North 7,657 9,496 1,242 1,483 3,101
Kildare South 6,052 9,204 1,039 1,426 2,372
Laois–Offaly 10,878 20,398 1,739 2,090 6,188
Limerick East 11,529 15,080 1,714 2,235 4,998
Limerick West 6,999 11,823 886 1,201 3,722
Longford–Roscommon 8,212 15,654 1,456 1,159 6,175
Louth 7,322 16,356 1,228 1,983 4,337
Mayo 10,923 21,174 1,348 1,666 6,601
Meath 11,338 18,584 1,487 2,123 5,898
Sligo–Leitrim 7,909 16,162 1,044 1,670 5,290
Tipperary North 7,547 13,316 1,550 2,158 3,802
Tipperary South 6,928 11,865 832 4,187 3,092
Waterford 8,243 15,769 1,406 2,229 3,887
Westmeath 5,969 10,653 1,160 1,561 3,770
Wexford 8,779 16,713 7,405 2,415 4,061
Wicklow 11,532 14,187 2,144 2,874 4,973
Total 372,002 574,424 59,529 88,423 175,458
Second count result[11]
Constituency Banotti McAleese
Votes % Votes %
Carlow–Kilkenny 16,474 40.5% 24,295 59.5%
Cavan–Monaghan 12,159 31.9% 26,015 68.1%
Clare 11,542 34.7% 21,766 65.3%
Cork East 12,205 38.9% 19,218 61.1%
Cork North-Central 12,201 40.3% 18,139 59.7%
Cork North-West 10,687 40.4% 15,825 59.6%
Cork South-Central 17,021 41.1% 24,437 58.9%
Cork South-West 11,326 43.0% 15,056 57.0%
Donegal North-East 4,844 25.6% 14,113 74.4%
Donegal South-West 5,573 28.4% 14,060 71.6%
Dublin Central 9,140 44.7% 11,349 55.3%
Dublin North 13,013 46.3% 15,149 53.7%
Dublin North-Central 13,903 46.8% 15,843 53.2%
Dublin North-East 11,114 47.4% 12,374 52.6%
Dublin North-West 10,337 46.0% 12,180 54.0%
Dublin South 23,436 54.3% 19,779 45.7%
Dublin South-Central 13,887 51.4% 13,182 48.6%
Dublin South-East 15,703 57.6% 11,568 42.4%
Dublin South-West 11,734 47.6% 12,920 52.4%
Dublin West 11,848 47.4% 13,199 52.6%
Dún Laoghaire 22,745 56.3% 17,678 43.7%
Galway East 10,003 34.2% 19,318 65.8%
Galway West 12,974 38.9% 20,418 61.1%
Kerry North 7,942 37.0% 13,546 63.0%
Kerry South 7,631 35.2% 14,109 64.8%
Kildare North 10,209 46.6% 11,741 53.4%
Kildare South 7,976 42.0% 11,039 58.0%
Laois–Offaly 14,485 37.0% 24,761 63.0%
Limerick East 15,208 45.2% 18,493 54.8%
Limerick West 9,082 38.9% 14,277 61.1%
Longford–Roscommon 11,216 36.5% 19,555 63.5%
Louth 10,015 34.0% 19,527 66.0%
Mayo 14,343 36.0% 25,551 64.0%
Meath 15,026 40.2% 22,430 59.8%
Sligo–Leitrim 10,729 35.1% 19,912 64.9%
Tipperary North 10,375 38.8% 16,373 61.2%
Tipperary South 10,129 40.3% 15,065 59.7%
Waterford 11,070 37.2% 18,760 62.8%
Westmeath 8,362 38.6% 13,347 61.4%
Wexford 14,143 39.1% 22,064 60.9%
Wicklow 15,706 46.9% 17,828 53.1%
Total 497,516 39.2% 706,259 55.6%

Footnotes
  1. The Progressive Democrats helped formally nominate McAleese
  2. Democratic Left helped formally nominate Roche
  3. The Green Party helped formally nominate Roche

References
  1. The powers and functions of the president were exercised and performed by the Presidential Commission from the resignation of Mary Robinson on 12 September until the inauguration of Mary McAleese on 11 November.
  2. O'Sullivan, Roddy (16 September 1997). "Two weeks for nominations". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  3. "McAleese's candidacy endorsed by PDs". The Irish Times. 24 September 1997. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  4. Hogan, Dick (16 September 1997). "Champion of Chernobyl victims to run for Presidency". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  5. "Charity workers stand by criticism of Roche". 22 September 1997. Archived from the original on 24 August 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  6. Newman, Christine (17 September 1997). "Dana promises a people's campaign for Presidency". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  7. "Derek Nally - an arresting candidate". BBC News. 29 October 1997. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  8. "Four more councils agree to give Nally nomination". The Irish Times. 30 September 1997. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  9. "Presidential Elections 1938–2011" (PDF). Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. p. 34. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 December 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  10. "Presidential Elections 1938–2011" (PDF). Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. p. 35. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 December 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  11. "Presidential Elections 1938–2011" (PDF). Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. p. 36. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 December 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
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