The Irish general election, 1997 reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Irish general election, 1997

The election for the 28th Dáil was held on the 6 June 1997. The results were:

Party	Leader	Seats	Loss/Gain	Dáil Seats (%)
Fianna Fáil	Bertie Ahern	77	+ 9	46.4
Fine Gael	John Bruton	54	+ 9	32.6
Labour	Ruairí Quinn	21	- 12	12.7
Progressive Democrats	Mary Harney	4	- 6	2.4
Independents	-	6	-	3.6
Green Party	Trevor Sargent	2	-	1.2
Sinn Féin	Gerry Adams	1	+ 1	0.6
Socialist Party	Joe Higgins	1	+ 1	0.6

Following the election a Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coaltion return to power with Bertie Ahern becoming Taoiseach for the first time. Mary Harney, leader of the Progressive Democrats becomes Tánaiste. Dick Spring retires as leader of the Irish Labour Party to be replaced by Ruairí Quinn.

See also:

• Government of the 28th Dáil
• Irish General Election, 1992
• Irish General Election, 2002
• List of Irish general elections

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