An Irish political party created out of the pro-Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921) wing of Sinn Féin. It was known as Cummann na nGaedheal from 1923 until it changed its name in 1933. The first government of the Irish Free State, it has largely been in opposition since the 1930s, and has never held power on its own. It supports an Irish confederation, and is largely pragmatic in domestic matters.
Fine Gael (IPA: [ˌfʲɪnʲə ˈgeːɫ], though often anglicized to [ˌfɪnə ˈgeɪl] (approximate English translation: Family of the Irish) and officially, Fine Gael - United Ireland Party, is the second largest political party in Ireland, presently forming the largest opposition party 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. Today, Fine Gael describes itself as a party of the progressive centre though, in many ways, the party complies more with the model of the mainland European Christian democratic parties. Fine Gael is the only member-party of the Christian Democratic European People's Party (EPP) in Ireland. 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. Michael Noonan, TD (2001-2002) Enda Kenny, TD (2002 - present)
The leader is the President of the party
Core policies
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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 its origins in defending the Anglo-Irish Treaty, notably sanctioning the execution of 77 anti-Treaty prisoners during the Irish Civil War. 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. The Fine Gael party claims Michael Collins as its founding father. He remains a symbol for the party, and his anniversary is celebrated each year, on April 23rd at Beal Na Bláth and Glasnevin by senior and rank and file party members. 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, advocating participation in European Common Defence.
However the party has refused to move to either Social Democracy or explicitly to the Centre-Right and, while currently trying to position itself as an alternative government along with the Labour party, its critics claim that 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 Civil Partnerships. As a result Fine Gael–The United Ireland Party was founded as an independent party in 1933, following the merger of Cumann na nGaedheal, the Centre Party and the Army Comrades' Association.
The new party sought to end the Economic War, improve relations with Britain while advocating a United Ireland within the framework of the Commonwealth. 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.
The Inter-Party Governments
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. Fine Gael's Foreign Minister Liam Cosgrave negotiated Ireland's entry to the United Nations in 1955 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 de Valera were returned to power in 1957, banishing Fine Gael once more to the opposition benches.
While the party has always been associated with the "Law and Order" tag, on several occasions they have shared power with political parties closely associated with armed groups. In 1948 Clann na Poblachta held considerable support among members of the then IRA, and, in return for the Clann's support in 1954, Costello ensured that the votes of Fine Gael councillors elected Liam Kelly to the Seanad (Labour Panel).
The Just Society and Tom O'Higgins
Out of government, Fine Gael again went into decline. This new strand of thinking in Fine Gael paved the way for the rise within the party of liberal thinkers such as Garret FitzGerald. 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.
The National Coalition
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. 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 in tandem with the Labour Party (which had ruled out coalition in its election campaign in 1969). 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, on the basis of a pre-election agreement between the two parties and active encouragement of each party's supporters to record preferences for the other party's candidates. He also founded the autonomous youth movement Young Fine Gael, while the party attracted thousands of new members. Fine Gael's revitalisation was on such a scale that by the November 1982 general election, Fine Gael was only five seats behind Fianna Fáil in Dáil Éireann and bigger than its rival in the Oireachtas as a whole (i.e., counting the number of representatives in both houses of parliament). FitzGerald headed three governments: 1981 – February 1982, 1982 – 1987, and a short-lived Fine Gael minority government when Labour withdrew from the previous coalition as tensions had developed between the coalition partners over how to tackle the economy.
The Rainbow Coalition
From a highpoint in the 1980s, Fine Gael went into slight, then sharp decline. Commentators predicted that that would leave Fine Gael isolated, with Fianna Fáil able to swap coalition partners to keep itself continuously in power. That indeed seemed the case when, after the 1992 general election, Fianna Fáil replaced the Progressive Democrats with the 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.
Immediately after the 1992 general election Fine Gael had baulked at the idea of forming a Fine Gael-Labour-Democratic Left coalition, given that Democratic Left had just emerged from the Workers Party which was, in turn, closely linked to the illegal Official IRA. the split in the Workers Party which led to its creation was caused, among other issues, by disagreement over that organisation's future links to the Official IRA.) The socialist, redistributionist and interventionist character of Democratic Left's economic policies also seemed to sit uneasily with Fine Gael's ideological commitment to tempered free enterprise. For these reasons (and on the basis of the greater ideological affinity between Fine Gael and the Progressive Democrats) Bruton sought a Fine Gael-Labour-PD coalition. When the opportunity to form such a government arose, any remaining concerns Fine Gael had about participating in such a combination were set aside, just as in 1948 and 1954 Fine Gael had been willing to ally itself with Clann na Poblachta (see The Inter Party Governments above). 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.
Meltdown and recovery
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.
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.
Pre-election pact
Since the Local and European elections the party's membership has continued to increase while the overall party morale is at its highest level in over a decade.
Since the 2005 endorsement by the Labour Party conference in Tralee, of a pre-election voting transfer pact with Fine Gael in 2005, Enda Kenny and Pat Rabbitte, the Labour party leader have seen increased parliamentary and public co-operation.
Following on from the Mullingar Accord, an election pact preceding the 2004 Local and European elections, where Fine Gael benifited largely, they have worked party rank and file into support of a second Rainbow Coalition. It is suspected that if the parties form a government after the next election, the Labour Party leader, will become Tánaiste (deputy prime minister), and Minister of Finance, with the Fine Gael leader becoming the Taoiseach (premier).
Though some doubt their potential for forming a stable government, with some opponents and journalists commenting on their incompatibility with Fine Gael as a traditionally centre right conservative party and Labour, a left of centre socially democratic organisation, the parties seem set to effect their plans and assist each other electorally in the 2007 poll.
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.
Young Fine Gael
Fine Gael have an active youth wing, Young Fine Gael.
Current state of the Irish political parties
Fianna Fail is unchanged from last November's Sunday Tribune/Millward Brown IMS poll at 37%.
Fine Gael is up two points to 26%;
Asked to choose between Ahern and Kenny as to who would make a better taoiseach, 50% opted for Ahern, with 29% going for the Fine Gael leader.
From the Sunday Tribune, Friday September 10th with statistics from Millward Brown/IMS.
Dail Representation
Fine Gael has 33 seats, represented by the bright blue squares in the bottom left corner.
Public Representatives
Notable past Teachtaí Dála are
John Bruton - Former Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald - Former TaoiseachFor a list of Fine Gael Teachtaí Dála and MEPs, past and present see List of Irish politicians
Changes since the 2002 General Election
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. Costello, James Dillon, Liam Cosgrave, Tom O'Higgins, Garret FitzGerald, Peter Barry, Alan Dukes, John Bruton, Nora Owen, Michael Noonan, Jim Mitchell
Fine Gael in Europe
Fine Gael Members of the European Parliament elected in June 2004:
Gay Mitchell - Dublin Mairead McGuinness - Ireland East Avril Doyle - Ireland East Simon Coveney - Ireland South Jim Higgins - Ireland WestFine 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.
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