Founded 1948 | ||
 | ||
Seats 4 (1948–1981)
5 (1981–2011) County/City council Limerick City
County Limerick
County Clare Created Irish general election, 1948 Abolished Irish general election, 2011 | ||
Limerick East was a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas from 1948 to 2011. The method of election was the single transferable vote form of proportional representation (PR-STV).
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History and boundaries
The constituency was created under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1947 for the 1948 general election. It succeeded the constituency of Limerick, which was divided between Limerick East and Limerick West.
It encompassed the whole of Limerick City Council, together with the Castleconnell electoral area and part of the Bruff electoral area of Limerick County Council and the Ballyglass electoral area of Clare County Council. It was primarily an urban constituency but had a large rural hinterland, and contained small parts of County Clare.
The constituency elected 4 deputies (Teachtaí Dála, commonly known as TDs) from 1948 to 1981, and 5 deputies from 1981 to 2011.
While support for left-wing parties has usually been strong in the city of Limerick, the constituency as a whole was long considered a stronghold of the Progressive Democrats (PD), supplying at least one PD TD in all general elections from 1987 until 2007.
The Constituency Commission published its final recommendations on 23 October 2007. As a result of population decline, Limerick East was replaced by a 4-seat constituency called Limerick City. Most of the rural parts of Limerick East were transferred to the new Limerick constituency.
TDs
Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.
1998 by-election
Following the death of Labour Party TD Jim Kemmy, a by-election was held on 11 March 1998. The seat was won by the Labour Party candidate Jan O'Sullivan.
1968 by-election
Following the death of Fianna Fáil TD Donogh O'Malley, a by-election was held on 22 May 1968. The seat was won by the Fianna Fáil candidate Desmond O'Malley, nephew of the deceased TD.
1952 by-election
Following the death of Fianna Fáil TD Daniel Bourke, a by-election was held on 26 June 1952. The seat was won by the Fine Gael candidate John Carew.