Taoiseach

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The Taoiseach (in Irish — plural: Taoisigh ([t̪ˠiːʃʲɪj] or [t̪ˠiːʃʲɪɟ]), also referred to as An Taoiseach , is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland.

The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of Oireachtas), and must, while he or she remains in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil. The current Taoiseach is Bertie Ahern, TD, leader 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 support of a majority in Dáil Éireann, he is not automatically removed from office but, rather, is compelled either to resign or to 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.

Salary

The Taoiseach's salary is considerably higher than for leaders in many other countries; €310,000 annually compared to £127,000 (~€180,000) for the British Prime Minister, $400,000 (~€280,000) for the President of the United States and €228,000 for the President of France. As of October 2007, the Taoiseach is the highest-paid head of government in the OECD countries.

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 (where 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 Gaelic languages of Scotland and Ireland. The related Welsh language word tywysog (current meaning "prince" - from "tywys", to lead) 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

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

	Name	Entered Office	Left Office	Elected	Period	Party
1.	Éamon de Valera	December 29, 1937	February 18, 1948	3 terms	1st time	Fianna Fáil
2.	John A. Costello	February 18, 1948	June 13, 1951	1 term	1st time	Fine Gael
	Éamon de Valera	June 13, 1951	June 2, 1954	1 term	2nd time	Fianna Fáil
	John A. Costello	June 2, 1954	March 20, 1957	1 term	2nd time	Fine Gael
	Éamon de Valera	March 20, 1957	June 23, 1959	1 term	3rd time	Fianna Fáil
3.	Seán Lemass	June 23, 1959	November 10, 1966	3 terms		Fianna Fáil
4.	Jack Lynch	November 10, 1966	March 14, 1973	2 terms	1st time	Fianna Fáil
5.	Liam Cosgrave	March 14, 1973	July 5, 1977	1 term		Fine Gael
	Jack Lynch	July 5, 1977	December 11, 1979	1 term	2nd time	Fianna Fáil
6.	Charles Haughey	December 11, 1979	June 30, 1981	1 term	1st time	Fianna Fáil
7.	Garret FitzGerald	June 30, 1981	March 9, 1982	1 term	1st time	Fine Gael
	Charles Haughey	March 9, 1982	December 14, 1982	1 term	2nd time	Fianna Fáil
	Garret FitzGerald	December 14, 1982	March 10, 1987	1 term	2nd time	Fine Gael
	Charles Haughey	March 10, 1987	February 11, 1992	2 terms	3rd time	Fianna Fáil
8.	Albert Reynolds	February 11, 1992	December 15, 1994	1 term		Fianna Fáil
9.	John Bruton	December 15, 1994	June 26, 1997	1 term		Fine Gael
10.	Bertie Ahern	June 26, 1997	Incumbent	3 terms		Fianna Fáil

Living former Taoisigh

There has never been more than six former Taoisigh alive at any one time.

Footnotes

External links

Official site

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Last updated on Monday March 10, 2008 at 12:49:15 PDT (GMT -0700)
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