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The Taoiseach (plural: Taoisigh) or, more formally, An Taoiseach, is the head of government of the Republic of Ireland and the leader of the Irish cabinet. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of parliament), and must, while he or she remains in office, enjoy the confidence of the Dáil. The current Taoiseach is Bertie Ahern, TD of the Fianna Fáil party.
Overview
Under the Constitution of Ireland the Taoiseach must be appointed from among the members of Dáil Éireann. In the event that the Taoiseach loses the confidence of Dáil Éireann, he is not automatically removed from office but, rather, is compelled to either resign or persuade the President to dissolve the Dáil. The President may refuse to grant a dissolution, and, in effect, force the Taoiseach to resign, but, to date, no president has exercised this prerogative (though the option arose in 1944, twice in 1982 and would have arisen in 1994 had Albert Reynolds chosen, following his Dáil defeat, to seek a dissolution rather than resign). The Taoiseach may lose the support of Dáil Éireann by the passage of a vote of no confidence, the failure of a vote of confidence or, alternatively, the Dáil may refuse supply . In the event of the Taoiseach's resignation, he continues to exercise the duties and functions of his office until the appointment of a successor. See Phantom Taoiseach.
The Taoiseach nominates the remaining members of the Government, who are then, with the consent of the Dáil, appointed by the President. The Taoiseach also has authority to have fellow members of the cabinet dismissed from office. He or she is further responsible for appointing eleven members of the Senate.
History
The words Taoiseach and Tánaiste (the title of the deputy prime minister) are both from the Irish language and of ancient origin. Though the Taoiseach is described in the Constitution of Ireland as "the head of the Government or Prime Minister", its literal translation is "leader" or "chief". Some historians suggest that in ancient Ireland (whence these terms originate), a taoiseach was a minor king, while a tánaiste was a governor placed in a kingdom whose king had been deposed or, more usually, his heir-apparent. In Scottish Gaelic; tòiseach translates as clan chief and both words originally had similar meaning in the Goidelic languages of Scotland and Ireland. The related Welsh language word Tywysog appears to have had a similar meaning.
The modern position of Taoiseach was established by the 1937 Constitution of Ireland, to replace the position of President of the Executive Council of the 1922-1937 Irish Free State. The positions of Taoiseach and President of the Executive Council differed in certain fundamental respects. Under the Constitution of the Irish Free State the latter was vested with considerably less power and was largely just the cabinet's presiding officer. For example, the President of the Executive Council could not dismiss a fellow minister. The Free State's cabinet, the Executive Council had to be disbanded and reformed entirely, in order to remove one of its number. The President of the Executive Council could also not personally seek a dissolution of Dáil Éireann from the head of state, that power belonging collectively to the Executive Council. In contrast, the Taoiseach created in 1937 possesses a much more powerful role. He can both instruct the President to dismiss ministers, and request a parliamentary dissolution on his own initiative.
Historically, where there have been multi-party or coalition Governments, the Taoiseach has come from the leader of the largest party in the coalition. One exception to this was John A. Costello, who was not leader of his party, but an agreed choice to head the government, because the other parties refused to accept then Fine Gael leader Richard Mulcahy as Taoiseach.
List of Taoisigh
| Taoisigh of Ireland by 1st appointment |
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Main articles: List of Irish heads of government since 1919, List of Taoisigh by important facts
Living former Taoisigh
There have never been more than six former Taoisigh alive at any one time. This has occurred only once: From June 26, 1997 to October 20, 1999, Jack Lynch, Liam Cosgrave, Garret FitzGerald, Charles Haughey, Albert Reynolds and John Bruton were living, from the time Bruton left office until the death of Lynch.
Footnotes
- Taoiseach is Irish language. It may be pronounced "tee-shoch" (with the "ch" sound as in "loch" — IPA /ti:ʃɒx/). In the accent of some speakers of Donegal Irish, however, its pronunciation is closer to "tee-shah" — /ti:ʃɑ:/. The plural, Taoisigh, may be pronounced "tee-she" or "tee-shig" — /ti:ʃi:/ or /ti:ʃɪg/. The Taoiseach is often formally addressed in English as An Taoiseach, "An" being the Irish definite article.
- One example of the Dáil refusing supply occurred in January 1982 when the then Fine Gael-Labour government of Garret FitzGerald lost a vote on the budget.
- Article 13.1.1° and Article 28.5.1°. The latter provision reads: "The head of the Government, or Prime Minister, shall be called, and is in this Constitution referred to as, the Taoiseach."
- Among the most famous ministerial dismissals have been those of Charles J. Haughey and Neil Blaney during the Arms Crisis in 1970, Brian Lenihan in 1990 and Albert Reynolds, Padraig Flynn and Máire Geoghegan-Quinn in 1991.
Charles Haughey passed away on the 13th of June 2006.
See also
- Irish topics
- Department of the Taoiseach
- Central Statistics Office
- Chairman or Chief
- Phantom Taoiseach
- Politics of the Republic of Ireland
Further reading
The book Chairman or Chief: The Role of the Taoiseach in Irish Government (1971) by Brian Farrell provides a good overview of the conflicting roles for An Taoiseach. Though long out of print, it may still be available in libraries or from AbeBooks. Biographies are also available of de Valera, Lemass, Lynch, Cosgrave, FitzGerald, Haughey, Reynolds and Ahern. FitzGerald wrote an autobiography, while an authorised biography was produced of de Valera.
Some Biographies of former Taoisigh & Presidents of the Executive Council:
- Tim Pat Coogan, Eamon de Valera
- John Horgan, Sean Lemass
- Brian Farrell, Sean Lemass
- T.P. O'Mahony, Jack Lynch: A Biography
- T. Ryle Dwyer, Nice Fellow: A Biography of Jack Lynch
- Stephen Collins, The Cosgrave legacy
- Garret FitzGerald, All in a Life
- Raymond Smith, Garret: The Enigma
- T.Ryle Dwyer, Short Fellow: A Biography of Charles J. Haughey
- Martin Mansergh, Spirit of the Nation: The Collected Speeches of Haughey
- Joe Joyce & Peter Murtagh The Boss: Charles J. Haughey in Government
- Tim Ryan, Albert Reynolds: The Longford Leader