ABSTRACT
The analysis of voting behaviour in 1992 suggested that voting decisions were becoming more personal, that a wider range of considerations were becoming important to voters, and that in consequence elections were becoming less predictable. The net movements of voters during the 1992 campaign were dramatic, with Labour gains and Fianna Fail losses the main features. In terms of basic demographics, it might be expected that younger voters, who may have voted Labour for the first time in 1992 and who would not have had time to form a Labour voting habit, would have been more likely to defect. The folklore and the academic lore regarding Irish voting strongly emphasise the influence of local issues and candidates' records of constituency service. Competition among candidates, especially among candidates of the same party, contributes to the localisation of electoral competition with the result that brokerage and localism are strongly emphasised in analyses of Irish voting behaviour.
