In response to Gladstone's attempt to implement Home Rule a unionist wing of the Liberals broke off to found the Liberal Unionist Party, which entered into an alliance with the Conservatives in an effort to block any attempt to implement Home Rule.

The Irish Liberal Party, having lost all seats in the 1885 election, saw its share of the vote further plummet, to 3%.

In comparison, the relative share of the vote enjoyed by the Conservatives nearly doubled.

This is explained by the fact that in this election, most southern Irish seats were uncontested as opposed to the previous year, so the Irish Parliamentary Party had no contests in seats they were popular and won in walkovers.

Not included in the totals are the two Dublin University seats, which were retained by Conservatives standing on a Unionist ticket.