Dublin University is a university constituency in Ireland, which has been used to elect members of various legislative bodies including currently Seanad Éireann. Alternative names are University of Dublin or Trinity College, Dublin, after the institute it represents. As it has been in existence since 1613, except for a brief period 1936-37, it could be considered the country's oldest constituency.
Note on official names: (1923) Electoral Act 1923, "Dublin University"; (1938) Seanad Electoral (University Members) Act 1937, "the University of Dublin shall be a constituency (in this Act referred to as the Dublin University constituency)."
The union took effect on 1 January1801. There was no new election for the members of the 1st Parliament of the United Kingdom, as the House of Commons was composed of members elected to the previous Parliaments of Ireland and Great Britain.
Irish constituencies with two members to be reduced to one, had their first United Kingdom MP selected by the drawing of lots. The Hon. George Knox was chosen to sit in the House of Commons for the University.
As a result of the Irish part of the Reform Act 1832 the University was given a second seat in Parliament.
Dublin University was given four seats in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. The seats were filled by Unionist MPs who were returned unopposed. They were the only MPs who attended the abortive first meeting of the House.
The Parliament was dissolved as part of the arrangements under the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922.
Dáil Éireann
In the United Kingdom general election, 1918Sinn Féin contested the election on the basis that they would not take seats in the United Kingdom Parliament but would establish a revolutionary assembly in Dublin.
The University was, in Irish republican theory, entitled to return two Teachtaí Dála (known in English as Deputies) in 1918 to serve in the Irish Republic's First Dáil. This revolutionary body assembled on 21 January1919.
In republican theory every MP elected in Ireland, including two unionists from Dublin University, was a member of the First Dáil. In practice only Sinn Féin members participated.
The First Dáil, passed a motion at its last meeting on 10 May1921, the first three parts of which make explicit the republican view.
1. That the Parliamentary elections which are to take place during the present month be regarded as elections to Dáil Éireann.
2. That all deputies duly returned at these elections be regarded as members of Dáil Éireann and allowed to take their seats on subscribing to the proposed Oath of Allegiance.
3. That the present Dáil dissolve automatically as soon as the new body has been summoned by the President and called to order.
Sinn Féin had decided to use the polls for the Northern Ireland House of Commons and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland as an election for the Irish Republic's Second Dáil. No actual voting was necessary in Southern Ireland as all the seats were filled by unopposed returns. Except for this University all other constituencies elected Sinn Féin TDs. The University elected four Independent Unionist members unopposed. As with the First Dáil, those Deputies could have joined the Dáil if they chose.
The Third Dáil elected in 1922 was, in United Kingdom law, the constituent assembly for the Irish Free State. From this time the Dáil represented only the twenty-six Irish counties and not the six counties of Northern Ireland. Non-Sinn Féin Deputies, including those from the University, began to participate in the Dáil.
In the Electoral Act 1923 (No. 12/1923), the Irish Free State defined its own Dáil constituencies. Dublin University was reduced to three seats.
The Constitution (Amendment No. 23) Act 1936 (No. 17/1936) repealed the Irish Free State constitutional provision for University representation in Dáil Éireann, with effect from the next dissolution of the Oireachtas which took place on 14 June1937.
Seanad Éireann
When Ireland adopted a new constitution, in 1937, this provided for the universities to be represented in a re-established Seanad Éireann (the Free State Seanad having been abolished in 1936).
The Seanad Electoral (University Members) Act 1937 (No. 30/1937) gave effect to the new constitutional provision. The election to the Seanad took place in 1938. The 2nd Seanad first met on 27 April1938.
Dublin University sends three members to the Seanad.
Recent reform proposals to the Seanad may lead to the end of university representation or to its modification to permit the graduates of other tertiary educational establishments than Dublin University and the National University of Ireland to participate in university Seanad elections. No decision has yet been made.
The electorate before 1832 comprised the Provost, Fellows and Scholars of Trinity College. From 1832, the electorate also included every graduate of the University with a M.A. degree.
When electoral registration was introduced, in 1832, there were 2,073 voters on the register. It is likely that most of them were also qualified to vote in one or more of the territorial constituencies. It was characteristic of the University constituencies in the UK Parliament that plural voting was the norm.
In 1918, the electorate was extended to include all registered graduates of the University and some female voters were allowed for the first time. Male graduates qualified to vote if they had attained the age of 21 but female ones had to be at least 30 to acquire the franchise. There were 4,541 voters registered for the 1918 general election. Most, if not all, of those electors would have been plural voters also entitled to vote in a territorial constituency.
In the Electoral Act 1923 (No. 12/1923), the Irish Free State abolished plural voting for University constituencies and enfranchised women on the same terms as men. Qualified voters could then decide whether to register for a University or a territorial constituency but not for both. Universal adult suffrage was not introduced in the UK until 1928. Plural voting was not abolished for UK elections until 1950.
The qualifications for an elector to be registered as a University voter were set out in Section 1(2)(c) of the 1923 Act. They were to be registered at "the University constituency comprising a university in which he or she has received a degree other than an honorary degree or, in the case of the University of Dublin, has received such degree as aforesaid, or obtained a foundation scholarship, or, if a woman, obtained a non-foundation scholarship".
Politics of the constituency
Throughout the history of this constituency, during the union, it supported (usually very strongly) Tory, Conservative and Unionist candidates (including the Liberal Unionist and Independent Unionist members).
The only partial exception was the tenure of the Whig MP, William Plunket, in 1812-1827. It should be noted that Plunket accepted office in what in retrospect are considered Tory governments. Given the state of the party system in the early nineteenth century, when William Pitt the Younger (now considered a Tory Prime Minister) called himself a Whig, it is not too surprising that Plunket was his Attorney General for Ireland. It is surprising that Plunket did not follow most of Pitt's supporters in calling himself a Tory soon after the Prime Minister's death. It is astonishing that a Whig was again Attorney General for Ireland in the Earl of Liverpool's very Tory ministry between 1822 and 1827. Plunket was perhaps more an eighteenth century than a nineteenth century Whig, so as to be acceptable to the university electorate.
Since 1922, most of the representatives of the University have been Independent members of the Oireachtas.
Electoral System
Until 1918 and for the 1919 by-election, in elections to fill a single seat, the first past the post system applied.
In two-member elections before 1918, the bloc voting system was used. Voters could cast a vote for one or two candidates, as they chose. The two candidates with the largest number of votes were elected.
Note: MPs in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland 1921-1922 are included as they were potential members of Dáil Éireann. They first took their seats in the "Provisional Parliament" or "Third Dáil" in September 1922
Note: Robinson was an Irish Labour Party Senator 1977-1981.
Elections
From 1832 (when registers of electors were first prepared) a turnout figure is given, for the percentage of the registered electors who voted. If the number of registered electors eligible to take part in a contested election is unknown, then the last known electorate figure is used to calculate an estimated turnout. If the numbers of registered electors and electors taking part in the poll are known, an exact turnout figure is calculated. In two member bloc vote elections (in which an elector could cast one or two votes as he chose), where the exact number of electors participating is unknown, an estimated turnout figure is given. This is calculated by dividing the total number of votes cast by two. To the extent that electors used only one of their votes the estimated turnout figure is an underestimate.
Rt Hon. Arthur Warren Samuels (U) 1,273 (43.09%) (elected)
Sir Robert Henry Woods (Ind U) 793 (26.84%)
William Morgan Jellett (U) 631 (21.36%)
Stephen Lucius Gwynn (Ind N) 257 (8.70%)
Second and third counts: Distribution of Samuels' surplus and Gwynn's votes
Rt Hon. Arthur Warren Samuels (U) (-288) 985 (elected)
Sir Robert Henry Woods (Ind U) (+301) 1,094 (elected)
William Morgan Jellett (U) and non-transferable (+244) 875 (runner up)
Stephen Lucius Gwynn (Ind N) (-257) 0 (eliminated)
Note: The Times edition of 23 December, 1918 reported that the Provost of the University, as returning officer, did not announce the figures. It was ascertained that Woods had 1,094 votes when elected. The above is the best reconstruction of the later counts which is possible with the available information.
The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844-50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973)
Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)
Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832-1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)
Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume II 1886-1918, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (The Harvester Press 1978)
Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume III 1919-1945, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (The Harvester Press 1979)
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