Was defeat inevitable for Cumann na nGaedheal in the 1932 general election?

This thesis looks at the election that terminated the first government of the Irish Free State, and effectively the career of the party that formed that government. An analysis of the policies of Cumann na nGaedheal in 1932 and a comparison of those policies with those of the main opposition party Fianna Fáil will determine why the party lost power. An examination of the support base of the party and Cumann na nGaedheal’s loyalty to its supporters will demonstrate that the government party had little choice in the policies it offered to the voters in the election. The methodology chosen to carry out this analysis is a series of research issues relevant to the period under examination. These issues are: The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921; the Oath of Allegiance to the British monarch; the policy of paying the land annuities to the British exchequer; and the economic situation obtaining in Ireland at the time of the election combined with the issue of trade relations with Britain. Other useful research areas are the problem of unemployment, the question of law and order and the role of the media during the period under analysis, January-February 1932. These questions are relevant in so far as they formed the election policies of the parties contesting seats and the subjects of many of the debates during the campaign. An analysis of the ten seats lost by Cumann na nGaedheal during the election is also provided in order to give an indication as to why the government party may have lost power in 1932.