taoiseach

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 cabinet¹. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dil ireann (the lower house of parliament), and must, while he or she remains in office, enjoy the confidence of the Dil. The current Taoiseach is Bertie Ahern TD, of the Fianna Fil party.

Overview

Under the Constitution of Ireland the Taoiseach must be appointed from among the members of Dil ireann. In the event that the Taoiseach loses the confidence of Dil ireann, they are not automatically removed from office but, rather, are compelled to either resign or persuade the President to dissolve the Dil. The President may refuse to grant a dissolution, and, in effect, force the Taoiseach to resign, but, to date, no president is known to have exercised this prerogative. The Taoiseach may lose the support of Dil ireann by the passage of a vote of no confidence, the failure of a vote of confidence or, alternatively, the Dil may refuse supply². In the event of the Taoiseach's resignation, they continue to exercise the duties and functions of their office until the appointment of a successor. The Taoiseach nominates the remaining members of the Government, who are then, with the consent of the Dil, 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 Tnaiste (the title of the deputy prime minister) are both Irish Gaelic and of ancient origin. Though the Taoiseach is described in the Constitution of Ireland as "the head of the Government or Prime Minister"³, its literal translation is "leader" or "chief". Some historians suggest that in ancient Ireland, from whence the terms originate, a taoiseach was a minor king, while a tnaiste was a governor placed in a kingdom whose king had been deposed. 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 Dil ireann 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 initiative⁴. 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

Main articles: List of Irish heads of government since 1919, List of Taoisigh by important facts

No.	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party
1.	Eamon de Valera	December 29, 1937	18 February, 1948	Fianna Fil
2.	John A. Costello	February 18, 1948	June 13, 1951	Fine Gael
	Eamon de Valera (2nd time)	June 13, 1951	June 2, 1954	Fianna Fil
	John A. Costello (2nd time)	June 2, 1954	March 20, 1957	Fine Gael
	Eamon de Valera (3rd time)	March 20, 1957	June 23, 1959	Fianna Fil
3.	Sean Lemass	June 23, 1959	November 10, 1966	Fianna Fil
4.	Jack Lynch	November 10, 1966	March 14, 1973	Fianna Fil
5.	Liam Cosgrave	March 14, 1973	July 5, 1977	Fine Gael
	Jack Lynch (2nd time)	July 5, 1977	December 11, 1979	Fianna Fil
6.	Charles J. Haughey	December 11, 1979	June 30, 1981	Fianna Fil
7.	Garret FitzGerald	June 30, 1981	March 9, 1982	Fine Gael
	Charles J. Haughey (2nd time)	March 9, 1982	December 14, 1982	Fianna Fil
	Garret FitzGerald (2nd time)	December 14, 1982	March 10, 1987	Fine Gael
	Charles J. Haughey (3rd time)	March 10, 1987	February 11, 1992	Fianna Fil
8.	Albert Reynolds	February 11, 1992	December 15, 1994	Fianna Fil
9.	John Bruton	December 15, 1994	June 26, 1997	Fine Gael
10.	Bertie Ahern	June 26, 1997	(Current incumbent)	Fianna Fil

Living former Taoisigh

Footnotes

Taoiseach is Irish Gaelic. It may be pronounced "tee-shoch" (with the "ch" sound as in "loch"). In the accent of some speakers of Donegal Irish, however, its pronunciation is closer to "tee-shah". The plural, Taoisigh, may be pronounced "tee-she" or "tee-shig". The Taoiseach is often formally addressed in English as An Taoiseach, "An" being the Irish definite article.
One example of the Dil 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 in 1970, Brian Lenihan in 1990 and Albert Reynolds, Padraig Flynn and Mire Geoghegan-Quinn in 1991.