(. It currently forms the
Official Opposition in the
Oireachtas (Irish Parliament), and claims a membership of over 34,000.
Fine Gael was founded on
3 September 1933 following the merger of
Cumann Na NGaedhael , the
Centre Party and the
Army Comrades Association , though it traces its origins back to the struggle for Irish independence and the pro-Treaty side in the
Irish Civil War , identified in particular with
Michael Collins . Fine Gael today describes itself as a party of the progressive centre though, in many ways, the party complies with the model of the mainland European
Christian Democratic parties. They are strongly pro-EU integration and opposed to radical and violent
Irish Republicanism , advocating a more pluralist, tolerant brand of
Irish Nationalism . Fine Gael is the only member-party of the
European People's Party (EPP) in Ireland, or indeed, from anywhere outside Continental Europe. In the
European Parliament , the EPP, with the
European Democrats party, forms the
European People's Party - European Democrats group in which Fine Gael's MEPs sit.
- General Eoin O'Duffy (1933-34) never had a seat in the Oireachtas during his leadership
- ---'' William T. Cosgrave , TD'' (former President Of The Executive Council (prime minister) from 1922-1932) served as parliamentary leader between 1933 and 1934.
- William T. Cosgrave, TD (1934-44)
- General Richard Mulcahy , TD (1944-59)
- ---'' John A. Costello , TD '' served as parliamentary leader between 1948 and 1959, and Taoiseach from 1948 to 1951, and 1954 to 1957.
- James Dillon , TD (1959-65)
- Liam Cosgrave , TD (1965-77), Taoiseach from 1973 to 1977
- Garret FitzGerald , TD (1977-87), Taoiseach from 1981 to 1982, and 1982 to 1987.
- Alan Dukes , TD (1987-90)
- John Bruton , TD (1990-2001), Taoiseach from 1994 to 1997.
- Michael Noonan , TD (2001-2002)
- Enda Kenny , TD (2002 - present)
''The leader also serves as the President of the party''
Fine Gael, since the days of Cumann na nGaedheal , has been known as the party of law and order as a result of its tough stance on crime and the causes of crime and its origins in defending the
Anglo-Irish Treaty . In Government the party has often utilised the forces of the State to combat lawlessness and
Subversion . Owing to its origins in the pro-treaty faction of Sinn Féin, Fine Gael is directly opposed to those who show disloyalty to the Irish State founded in 1922 and sees itself as the protector of the State's institutions. Fine Gael has, since its inception, been a party of fiscal rectitude, advocating pro-enterprise policies while integrity in public life is a core value of the party. Fine Gael is, perhaps, the most pro-European integrationist party in the Republic of Ireland. Today the party is closely associated with a campaign highlighting a rip-off culture in Ireland.
However the party has refused to move to either
Social Democracy or the Centre-Right and, while currently trying to position itself as an alternative government along with the Labour party, it has not proposed a substantial ideological shift from the status quo.
The party has made proposals in a few specific areas such as
Neutrality , Childcare and
Same-sex Union s.
In the face of intimidation of Cumann na nGaedheal meetings by the
Anti-treaty IRA and the rise in support for
Éamon De Valera 's
Fianna Fáil from 1926, a new strategy was required to strengthen the voice of the pro-Treaty tradition who now found themselves in opposition. As a result was founded as an independent party in 1933, following the merger of the Cumann na nGaedheal, the Centre Party and the Army Comrades Association. In reality, it was really a larger version of Cumann na nGaedhael, the party created in 1923 by the
Pro-Treaty leaders of the Irish Free State under
William T. Cosgrave . The new party sought to end the
Economic War , improve relations with Britain while advocating a United Ireland within the framework of the Commonwealth. After a short hiatus under the disastrous leadership of General
Eoin O'Duffy , Cosgrave returned to lead the new party, continuing in the leadership until 1944. Although the people who formed the party had been in government for ten years in the
Irish Free State (1922-32), once Fianna Fáil under
Eamon De Valera came to power in 1932, Fine Gael spent the next sixteen years in the doldrums, overshadowed by the larger party. Indeed at times, it went into what was thought to be terminal decline on the opposition benches.
Fine Gael found itself in government in 1948, when all the anti-Fianna Fáil parties between them won enough seats in that year's general election to oust Fianna Fáil and take power. However, some of the other parties in the new
First Inter-Party Government considered Fine Gael's new leader, General
Richard Mulcahy , to be too controversial a potential
Taoiseach . Notably,
Clann Na Poblachta (under former anti-Treaty IRA chief of staff,
Sean MacBride ), were opposed to him because of his role as Chief of Staff of the
Irish Army in the execution of republicans during the
Irish Civil War . He stepped aside and former
Attorney-General John A. Costello was chosen to head the government, which lasted from 1948 to 1951. Costello was an effective chairman of a coalition comprising many different shades of opinion. That Government is remembered for establishing the Industrial Development Authority and declaring the Irish Free State to be the
Republic Of Ireland in 1949. Also a record number of houses were built while the health minister
Noel Browne successfully tackled the
Tuberculosis disease. Costello also headed the Second Inter-Party Government, which had a much stronger Fine Gael representation, from 1954 to 1957. Fine Gael's Foreign Minister
Liam Cosgrave negotiated Ireland's entry to the United Nations in 1956 and, in doing so, defined Irish foreign policy for decades. The party's Health Minister
Tom O'Higgins introduced the
Voluntary Health Insurance Board (VHI) and thus established Ireland's partly insurance-based health service that persists today.
Fianna Fáil and deValera were returned to power in 1957, banishing Fine Gael once more to the opposition benches.
Out of government, Fine Gael went into decline. In the mid 1960s, however, it launched a new policy statement, known as ''The Just Society'', advocating policies based on principles of social justice and equality. That document was the brainchild of
Declan Costello , a Fine Gael TD and son of former Taoiseach John A Costello, and reflected an emerging faction in the party that was being influenced by Social Democracy. This new strand of thinking in Fine Gael paved the way for the entry to the party of liberal thinkers such as
Garret FitzGerald . Party Leaders of the time remained conservative but the seeds of the 1980s revolution had been sown. In 1966, Fine Gael's young presidential candidate,
Tom O'Higgins , came within 1% of defeating the apparently unbeatable sitting president,
Eamon De Valera , in that year's presidential election. This was regarded as a substantial achievement as
Fianna Fáil had persuaded
RTE to provide no coverage of the campaign and the election was held in the year of the 50th anniversary of the
Easter Rising of which De Valera payed a prominent role. O'Higgins came from the emerging Social Democrat wing of the party.
When James Dillon resigned as Fine Gael leader in 1965, Liam Cosgrave (the son of
Cumann Na NGaedheal founder
W.T Cosgrave ) was chosen to replace him. The swift changeover was viewed as a means of keeping control of the party away from the emerging centre left wing of the party. In the wake of the Fianna Fáil
Arms Crisis and Cosgrave's strong performances in opposition in defending the institutions of the State, the party was well positioned to return to Government with the Labour Party (which had ruled out coalition in its election campaign). After a break of sixteen years, Fine Gael returned to power in
1973 , at the head of a ''National Coalition'' government with Labour, under Cosgrave's leadership. That government has generally been regarded as a good government, but was hit by frequent problems. Some of these were outside its control (for example the
1970s Oil Crisis ) and escalating violence in
Northern Ireland , while others were its own direct creation — notably the verbal attack on
President Cearbhall Ó Dalaigh by the Minister for Defence,
Patrick Donegan , in which he called the President a "thundering disgrace". President Ó Dálaigh's subsequent resignation in 1976 severely damaged the National Coalition's reputation.
Cosgrave, like his father before him, showed a fierce determination to defend the institutions of the state and would not compromise with extremists, instead working towards reconciliation. The National Coalition is best remembered for its attempts to build a power shairing executive in Northern Ireland through the
Sunningdale Agreement . The Sunningdale Agreement collapsed after a
Loyalist General Strike . However, it left a legacy of compromise that would lead to later Agreements aimed at bringing peace to the troubled region. In 1977 the Fine Gael/Labour government suffered a heavy defeat, with Fianna Fáil winning an unprecedented 20-seat majority in the 148-seat Dáil, a landslide under
Proportional Representation .
Cosgrave resigned the leadership and was replaced by replaced him. Like FitzGerald, Dukes came from the wing of Fine Gael influenced by Social Democracy.
From a highpoint in the 1980s, Fine Gael went into slight, then sharp decline. Despite Dukes launching the ''
Tallaght Strategy '' in 1987, the party gained just four seats in the following general Election. In 1990, its candidate in the Irish presidential election,
Austin Currie , was pushed into a humiliating third place, behind the winner, Labour's
Mary Robinson and Fianna Fáil's
Brian Lenihan . This led to
John Bruton replacing
Alan Dukes as the party's leader. In 1989, political history was made when Fianna Fáil abandoned one of its "core principles", its opposition to coalition. Having failed in 1987 and 1989 to win outright majorities, Fianna Fáil entered into a coalition administration with the
Progressive Democrats . Commentators predicted that that would leave Fine Gael isolated, with Fianna Fáil able to swap coalition partners to keep itself in continual power. That indeed seemed the case when, after the 1992 general election, Fianna Fáil replaced the Progressive Democrats with the Irish Labour Party. However the Fianna Fáil-Labour coalition disintegrated in 1994, allowing Bruton to emerge as Taoiseach of a three party ''
Rainbow Coalition '', involving Fine Gael, Labour and
Democratic Left . This Government's first policy initiative was the introduction of Divorce which was ratified in a referendum by a narrow majority. The Government also oversaw unprecedented economic growth and Ireland's first budget surplus in over twenty years. However, the
Provisional IRA ceasefire ended in 1996, stalling the peace process. The three parties worked well together and fought the 1997 election on a united platform. However, despite positive opinion polls throughout its time in office, the Government was defeated in the 1997 general election. Fine Gael gained nine seats but Labour lost heavily and the rainbow coalition was replaced by a Fianna Fáil-
Progressive Democrats coalition under
Bertie Ahern .
The party had little answer as popular Taoiseach
Bertie Ahern cemented his title as the ''
Teflon Taoiseach'' (a reference to his uncanny ability to emerge unscathed from controversy after controversy). The party, facing a hostile media and criticism of Bruton's style of leadership, ditched him in 2001 in place of what was seen as the ''dream ticket'' of former Minister
Michael Noonan for leader and former minister
Jim Mitchell for deputy leader. However the dream proved to be a nightmare, as Fine Gael suffered its worst ever election result in the 2002 general election, declining from 54 TDs to 31. Many of its best TDs, including most of its front bench, in particular Deputy Leader Jim Mitchell, lost their seats. Noonan resigned on the night of the election result, and was replaced by
Enda Kenny in the subsequent
Leadership Election . With the scale of the collapse, questions were asked as to whether the party had a future.
However, Fine Gael staged a remarkable recovery in local and
European elections held on
11 June 2004. It won 5 of the Republic of Ireland's 13 European Parliament seats (compared to just 4 seats for the ruling
Fianna Fáil party), and won almost the same number of local authority seats as Fianna Fáil. Since those elections the party's membership has continued to increase while the overall party morale is at its highest level in over a decade. Furthermore, under Enda Kenny's leadership the party has agreed to enter a pre-election pact with Labour in an attempt to offer an alternative Government to the people at next
General Election , due within 18 months. Fine Gael appears set to at least regain many of the seats it lost during the disastrous 2002 campaign at the next General Election.
The Fine Gael party has achieved an average of just over 30% of first preference votes in Irish elections since 1922.
Notable past
Teachtaí Dála are
For a list of Fine Gael
Teachtaí Dála and
MEP s, past and present see ''
List Of Irish Politicians
Liam Twomey , elected as an Independent for Wexford, joined the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party in September 2004.
John Bruton resigned his Dáil seat in November 2004 to become EU Ambassador to the US, and was replaced in the March 2005 by-election by
Shane McEntee , also from Fine Gael.
Michael Collins ,
W.T Cosgrave ,
Kevin O'Higgins ,
Eoin O'Duffy ,
Richard Mulcahy ,
John A. Costello ,
James Dillon ,
Liam Cosgrave ,
Tom O'Higgins ,
Garret FitzGerald ,
Peter Barry ,
Alan Dukes ,
John Bruton ,
Nora Owen ,
Michael Noonan ,
Jim Mitchell
Fine Gael
Members Of The European Parliament elected in June 2004:
Fine Gael MEPs are part of the
Group Of The European People's Party (Christian Democrats) And European Democrats (EEP-ED) group in the European Parliament.
Fine Gael have an active youth wing,
Young Fine Gael . They were formed in
1977 by Garret FitzGerald and play an active part in the party's affairs and activities.
- ''Nealon's Guide to the 29th Dáil and Seanad'' (Gill and Macmillan, 2002) (ISBN 0717132889)
- Stephen Collins, "The Cosgrave Legacy" (Blackwater, 1996) (ISBN 086121658X)
- Garret FitzGerald, "Garret FitzGerald: An Autobiography" (Gill and Macmillan, 1991) (ISBN 071711600X)
- Jack Jones, ''In Your Opinion: Political and Social Trends in Ireland through the Eyes of the Electorate'' (Townhouse, 2001) (ISBN 1860591493)
- Maurice Manning, ''James Dillon: A Biography'' (Wolfhound, 1999/2000) (ISBN 086327823X)
- Stephen O'Byrnes, ''Hiding Behind a Face: Fine Gael under FitzGerald'' (Gill and Macmillan: 1986) (ISBN 0717114481)
- Raymond Smith, ''Garret: The Enigma'' (Aherlow, 1985) (no ISBN)
The European Democrats party is a
Eurosceptic group that consists mainly of the
Conservative Party (UK) with the sole MEP from the
Ulster Unionist Party , plus twelve from the Czech Republic, one Italian pensioner and two from Portugal. The EPP and the ED have common values on most issues, but are diametrically opposed on the future direction of the European Union.
