1923 National University of Ireland by-election

A Dáil by-election was held in the constituency of National University of Ireland in the Irish Free State on Saturday, 25 October 1923, to fill a vacancy in the 4th Dáil due to Eoin MacNeill of Cumann na nGaedheal being elected for another constituency.

At the 1923 general election, Eoin MacNeill was elected as a TD for both Clare and for the National University of Ireland (NUI). He chose to sit for Clare, vacating his seat for the NUI on 3 October 1923.^[1] This was in accordance with section 55 of the Electoral Act 1923.^[2]

NUI was a 3-seat constituency to which those who had received a degree other than an honorary degree from the National University of Ireland were eligible to vote if they were not registered to vote in another constituency.^[3] A government motion to issue the writ of election to fill the vacancy was agreed on 11 October 1923.^[4]

The Cumann na nGaedheal candidate, Patrick McGilligan, had contested North Derry at the 1918 general election and the 1919 North Derry by-election for Sinn Féin; on both occasions, he was defeated by the Ulster Unionist Party candidate. The Republican candidate, William Stockley, was a former TD who had been elected for NUI at the uncontested 1921 election and the contested 1922 general election. He was defeated at the 1923 general election.