[4] Fianna Fáil had been in office since 1957, and in spite of media predictions, the party was still very popular with the voters.

[5] One of the party's policies proposed to abolish compulsory Irish for State examinations and civil service jobs.

The Labour Party on the other hand were predicted to make gains after firmly ruling out a pre-election pact with Fine Gael.

The party fielded a number of new, high-profile candidates, including Justin Keating, Conor Cruise O'Brien, David Thornley and Noël Browne.

[5] The result marked a third successive victory for Fianna Fáil, led by Jack Lynch.