Taoiseach
head of government and prime minister of Ireland
The Taoiseach (/ˈtiːʃəx/ (
listen)),[2] also referred to as An Taoiseach ([ən t̪ˠiːʃʲəx]),[3] is the head of the government in Ireland. The term prime minister is not used by the Irish media.[4]
| Prime Minister of Ireland - Taoiseach | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Department of the Taoiseach | |
| Style |
|
| Member of | |
| Reports to | Oireachtas |
| Residence | Steward's Lodge |
| Seat | Government Buildings, Merrion Street, Dublin, Ireland |
| Nominator | Dáil Éireann |
| Appointer | President of Ireland |
| Term length | While commanding the confidence of the majority of Dáil Éireann. No term limits are imposed on the office. |
| Inaugural holder | Éamon de Valera[note 1] |
| Formation | 29 December 1937 |
| Deputy | Tánaiste |
| Salary | €207,590 annually[1] |
| Website | taoiseach |
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Appointment
changeWhen a new Dáil Éireann meets after an election it nominates one of its members to be Taoiseach. He then visits the President, and is appointed. He then presents a list of ministers to the Dáil and when this is approved they are also appointed by the President.
If the Taoiseach resigns all members of the government are said to have resigned as well. If a minister does not resign when asked by the Taoiseach, the Taoiseach can ask the President to sack the minister. The President cannot refuse to do this.[5]
Department of the Taoiseach
changeThe Department of the Taoiseach helps the Taoiseach to do his job. The main duty of the Taoiseach is to start policy and coordinate policy of the rest of government. Especially policies on Economic and Social Development, Northern Ireland, the European Union and Public Sector Change and Oireachtas Reform.
The Government Chief Whip, who has to make sure the government's policies and ideas are turned into law, is a part of the Taoiseach's department.
The current Taoiseach is Simon Harris since 9 April 2024.
List
change
President of the Executive Councilchange | ||||||||||
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) Constituency |
Term of office | Party | Exec. Council Composition |
Vice President | Dáil (elected) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | W. T. Cosgrave (1880–1965) TD for Carlow–Kilkenny until 1927 TD for Cork Borough from 1927 |
6 December 1922[a] |
9 March 1932 |
Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty) |
1st | SF (PT) (minority) | Kevin O'Higgins | 3 (1922) | ||
| Cumann na nGaedheal | 2nd | CnG (minority) | 4 (1923) | |||||||
| 3rd | Ernest Blythe | 5 (Jun.1927) | ||||||||
| 4th | 6 (Sep.1927) | |||||||||
| 5th | ||||||||||
| 2 | Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) TD for Clare |
9 March 1932[b] |
29 December 1937 |
Fianna Fáil | 6th | FF (minority) | Seán T. O'Kelly | 7 (1932) | ||
| 7th | 8 (1933) | |||||||||
| 8th | 9 (1937) | |||||||||
Taoiseachchange | ||||||||||
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) Constituency |
Term of office | Party | Government Composition |
Tánaiste | Dáil (elected) | |||
| (2) | Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) TD for Clare |
29 December 1937 |
18 February 1948 |
Fianna Fáil | 1st | FF (minority) | Seán T. O'Kelly | 9 ( ···· ) | ||
| 2nd | FF | 10 (1938) | ||||||||
| 3rd | FF (minority) | 11 (1943) | ||||||||
| 4th | FF | Seán Lemass | 12 (1944) | |||||||
| 3 | John A. Costello (1891–1976) TD for Dublin South-East |
18 February 1948 |
13 June 1951 |
Fine Gael | 5th | FG–Lab–CnP–CnT–NL–Ind | William Norton | 13 (1948) | ||
| (2) | Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) TD for Clare |
13 June 1951 |
2 June 1954 |
Fianna Fáil | 6th | FF (minority) | Seán Lemass | 14 (1951) | ||
| (3) | John A. Costello (1891–1976) TD for Dublin South-East |
2 June 1954 |
20 March 1957 |
Fine Gael | 7th | FG–Lab–CnT | William Norton | 15 (1954) | ||
| (2) | Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) TD for Clare |
20 March 1957 |
23 June 1959 |
Fianna Fáil | 8th | FF | Seán Lemass | 16 (1957) | ||
| 4 | Seán Lemass (1899–1971) TD for Dublin South-Central |
23 June 1959 |
10 November 1966 |
Fianna Fáil | 9th | FF | Seán MacEntee | |||
| 10th | FF (minority) | 17 (1961) | ||||||||
| 11th | FF | Frank Aiken | 18 (1965) | |||||||
| 5 | Jack Lynch (1917–1999) TD for Cork Borough until 1969 TD for Cork City North-West from 1969 |
10 November 1966 |
14 March 1973 |
Fianna Fáil | 12th | FF | ||||
| 13th | FF | Erskine H. Childers | 19 (1969) | |||||||
| 6 | Liam Cosgrave (1920–2017) TD for Dún Laoghaire and Rathdown |
14 March 1973 |
5 July 1977 |
Fine Gael | 14th | FG–Lab | Brendan Corish | 20 (1973) | ||
| (5) | Jack Lynch (1917–1999) TD for Cork City |
5 July 1977 |
11 December 1979 |
Fianna Fáil | 15th | FF | George Colley | 21 (1977) | ||
| 7 | Charles Haughey (1925–2006) TD for Dublin Artane |
11 December 1979 |
30 June 1981 |
Fianna Fáil | 16th | FF | ||||
| 8 | Garret FitzGerald (1926–2011) TD for Dublin South-East |
30 June 1981 |
9 March 1982 |
Fine Gael | 17th | FG–Lab (minority) | Michael O'Leary | 22 (1981) | ||
| (7) | Charles Haughey (1925–2006) TD for Dublin North-Central |
9 March 1982 |
14 December 1982 |
Fianna Fáil | 18th | FF (minority) | Ray MacSharry | 23 (Feb.1982) | ||
| (8) | Garret FitzGerald (1926–2011) TD for Dublin South-East |
14 December 1982 |
10 March 1987 |
Fine Gael | 19th | FG–Lab FG (minority) from Jan 1987 |
Dick Spring | 24 (Nov.1982) | ||
| Peter Barry | ||||||||||
| (7) | Charles Haughey (1925–2006) TD for Dublin North-Central |
10 March 1987 |
11 February 1992 |
Fianna Fáil | 20th | FF (minority) | Brian Lenihan | 25 (1987) | ||
| 21st | FF–PD | 26 (1989) | ||||||||
| John Wilson | ||||||||||
| 9 | Albert Reynolds (1932–2014) TD for Longford–Roscommon |
11 February 1992 |
15 December 1994 |
Fianna Fáil | 22nd | FF–PD FF (minority) from Nov 1992 | ||||
| 23rd | FF–Lab FF (minority) from Nov 1994 |
Dick Spring | 27 (1992) | |||||||
| Bertie Ahern | ||||||||||
| 10 | John Bruton (1947–2024) TD for Meath |
15 December 1994 |
26 June 1997 |
Fine Gael | 24th | FG–Lab–DL | Dick Spring | |||
| 11 | Bertie Ahern (b. 1951) TD for Dublin Central |
26 June 1997 |
7 May 2008 |
Fianna Fáil | 25th | FF–PD (minority) | Mary Harney | 28 (1997) | ||
| 26th | FF–PD | 29 (2002) | ||||||||
| Michael McDowell | ||||||||||
| 27th | FF–Green–PD | Brian Cowen | 30 (2007) | |||||||
| 12 | Brian Cowen (b. 1960) TD for Laois–Offaly |
7 May 2008 |
9 March 2011 |
Fianna Fáil | 28th | FF–Green–PD FF–Green–Ind from Nov 2009 FF (minority) from Jan 2011 |
Mary Coughlan | |||
| 13 | Enda Kenny (b. 1951) TD for Mayo |
9 March 2011 |
14 June 2017[6] |
Fine Gael | 29th | FG–Lab | Eamon Gilmore | 31 (2011) | ||
| Joan Burton | ||||||||||
| 30th | FG–Ind (minority) | Frances Fitzgerald | 32 (2016) | |||||||
| 14 | Leo Varadkar (b. 1979) TD for Dublin West |
14 June 2017[7] |
27 June 2020 |
Fine Gael | 31st | FG–Ind (minority) | ||||
| Simon Coveney | ||||||||||
| 15 | Micheál Martin (b. 1960) TD for Cork South-Central |
27 June 2020 |
17 December 2022 |
Fianna Fáil | 32nd | FF–FG–Green | Leo Varadkar | 33 (2020) | ||
| (14) | Leo Varadkar (b. 1979) TD for Dublin West |
17 December 2022 |
9 April 2024 |
Fine Gael | 33rd | FG–FF–Green | Micheál Martin | |||
| 16 | Simon Harris (b. 1986) TD for Wicklow |
9 April 2024 |
Incumbent | Fine Gael | 34th | FG–FF–Green | ||||
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Notes
change- ↑ Before the enactment of the 1937 Constitution of Ireland, the head of government was referred to as the President of the Executive Council. This office was first held by W. T. Cosgrave from 1922 to 1932, and then by Éamon de Valera from 1932 to 1937.
- ↑ Cosgrave was Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State from 22 August 1922, during the transitional period before the state became officially independent on 6 December 1922 (See Irish heads of government since 1919).
- ↑ De Valera was President of Dáil Éireann in the pre-independence revolutionary Irish Government from 1 April 1919 to 9 January 1922 (See Irish heads of government since 1919).
References
change- ↑ Oireachtas, Houses of the. "Salaries, Houses of the Oireachtas". oireachtas.ie. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
- ↑ "Taoiseach: definition of Taoiseach in Oxford dictionary (British & World English). Meaning, pronunciation and origin of the word". Oxford Language Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. 2013. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
- ↑ Keeping the Irish definite article an /ən/ instead of English the.
- ↑ "BUNREACHT NA hÉIREANN".
Article 28.5.1 The head of the Government, or Prime Minister, shall be called, and is in this Constitution referred to as, the Taoiseach.
- ↑ "BUNREACHT NA hÉIREANN".
Article 28.9.4. The Taoiseach may at any time, for reasons which to him seem sufficient, request a member of the Government to resign; should the member concerned fail to comply with the request, his appointment shall be terminated by the President if the Taoiseach so advises.
- ↑ "Kenny's farewell: 'This has never been about me'". RTÉ News. 13 June 2017. Archived from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
- ↑ Lord, Miriam (8 June 2017). "Taoiseach-in-waiting meets man waiting to be taoiseach". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2017.