Garret FitzGerald

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Garret FitzGerald
7th Taoiseach of Ireland
In office 30 June 1981 – 9 March 1982 14 December 1982 – 10 March 1987
Deputy	Michael O'Leary (1981–1982) Dick Spring (1982–1987) Peter Barry (1987)
Preceded by	Charles Haughey (twice)
Succeeded by	Charles Haughey (twice)
Born	9 February 1926 Dublin
Political party	Fine Gael
Spouse	Joan FitzGerald
Profession	Economist

Garret FitzGerald (Irish: Gearóid Mac Gearailt; born February 9, 1926) was the seventh Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, serving two terms in office; July 1981 to February 1982, and December 1982 to March 1987. FitzGerald was elected to Seanad Éireann in 1965 and was subsequently elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael TD in 1969. He served as Foreign Affairs Minister from 1973 to 1977. FitzGerald was the leader of Fine Gael between 1977 and 1987. He is also the son of Desmond FitzGerald who was the first Minister for External Affairs of the nascent Irish state, following independence from the United Kingdom in 1922. At present FitzGerald is the Chancellor of the National University of Ireland. He is widely considered to have been the most successful leader of the modern Fine Gael party.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Early political life 3 Minister for Foreign Affairs 4 Leader of Fine Gael 5 Taoiseach 1981–1982 6 Taoiseach 1982–1987 6.1 Constitutional reform 6.2 Northern Ireland 7 Post-Taoiseach period 8 Assessment 9 Governments 10 Footnotes 11 Political career

[edit] Early life

Garret FitzGerald was born in Dublin in 1926 into a very politically active family. His father was the London-born and reared Desmond FitzGerald, the Minister for External Affairs at the time of his son's birth. Fitzgerald senior had been active in Sinn Féin during the Irish War of Independence, and had been one of the founders of Cumann na nGaedhael, the party formed to support the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, which created the Irish Free State. Though a senior figure on the 'pro-treaty' side of Ireland's political divide, Desmond FitzGerald had remained friendly with anti-Treaty republicans such as Belfast man Seán MacEntee, a minister in Éamon de Valera's government, and father-in-law of Conor Cruise O'Brien. The families of Patrick McGilligan and Ernest Blythe were also frequent visitors to the FitzGerald household. FitzGerald's mother, the former Mabel Washington McConnell, who, although an ardent nationalist and republican herself, came of Ulster unionist Protestant stock and left a lasting effect on her son's political philosophy. He would later describe his political objective as the creation of a pluralist Ireland where the northern Protestants of his mother’s family tradition and the southern Catholics of his father’s could feel equally at home.

FitzGerald was educated at the Jesuit Belvedere College and University College Dublin (UCD). He was deeply interested in the politics of the Spanish Civil War and World War II. An intellectually brilliant student who counted among his contemporaries in UCD his future political rival, Charles Haughey, who also knew Joan O'Farrell (a Liverpool-born daughter of a British army officer, Richard O'Farrell) a fellow student, whom Garret Fitzgerald would go on to marry in 1947.

Following his university education he found employment with Aer Lingus, the state airline of Ireland, in 1947 and became an authority on the strategic economic planning of transport. During this time he wrote many newspaper articles and was encouraged to write on National Accounts and economics by the Features Editor in The Irish Times. He remained in Aer Lingus until 1959, when after undertaking a study of the economics of Irish Industry in Trinity College Dublin, he became a lecturer in economics at UCD.

[edit] Early political life

Garret FitzGerald was eager to enter politics, and suggested^{[citation needed]} to several members of Fianna Fáil, including Michael Yeats, that he should join that party. Those whom he approached felt that FitzGerald's talents would be best suited elsewhere, and ultimately FitzGerald made his entry into party politics under the banner of Fine Gael. He attached himself to the liberal wing of Fine Gael, which rallied around the Just Society programme written by Declan Costello. An adept self publicist,^{[citation needed]} FitzGerald was elected to Seanad Éireann in 1965 and soon built up his political profile. FitzGerald was elected to Dáil Éireann in the 1969 general election, the same year he obtained his PhD for a thesis later published under the title "Planning in Ireland". He became an important figure almost immediately in the parliamentary party and his liberal ideas were seen as a counterweight to the conservative leader, Liam Cosgrave. Difference in political outlook, and FitzGerald's ambitions for the Fine Gael leadership resulted in profound tensions^{[citation needed]} between the two men. In one speech^{[citation needed]} to Fine Gael members, Cosgrave referred to the 'mongrel foxes' who should be rooted out of the party, a reference seen by many as an attack on FitzGerald's efforts to unseat him as leader.

[edit] Minister for Foreign Affairs

After the 1973 general election Fine Gael came to power in a coalition government with the Labour Party with Liam Cosgrave as Taoiseach. FitzGerald hoped^{[citation needed]} that he would take over as Minister for Finance, particularly after a stunning performance in a pre-election debate with the actual Minister for Finance, George Colley. However the position went to Richie Ryan, with FitzGerald becoming Minister for Foreign Affairs. It was a case of history repeating itself as FitzGerald's father had held that post in a government led by Liam Cosgrave's father W.T. Cosgrave fifty years earlier. His appointment to Iveagh House (the home of the Department of Foreign Affairs) would have a huge effect on FitzGerald's own career and the future of Fine Gael. Cosgrave was suspicious of FitzGerald's liberal ideas and believed^{[citation needed]} that he had designs on the leadership. By appointing him as Foreign Minister, Cosgrave hoped^{[citation needed]} that FitzGerald would be out of the country and would lose touch with the party. The exact opposite is what happened.

FitzGerald is, by general consensus, regarded^{[citation needed]} as one of Ireland's best Foreign Ministers. The minister's role had changed substantially since his father's day. Ireland was no longer a member of the Commonwealth of Nations but had in 1973 joined the European Economic Community (EEC), now known as the European Union (EU). FitzGerald, firmly ensconced as Foreign Minister, was free from any blame^{[citation needed]} due to other Ministers mishandling of the economy. If anything his tenure at the Department of Foreign Affairs helped him to achieve the leadership of the party. His innovative views, energy and fluency in French won him — and through him, Ireland — a status in European affairs far exceeding the country’s size^{[citation needed]} and ensured that the first Irish Presidency of the European Council in 1975 was a noted success. His reputation abroad, and that of Ireland, increased his popularity and his affable style helped change the traditional, stereotypical European view of Ireland.

[edit] Leader of Fine Gael

In 1977 the National Coalition of Fine Gael and Labour suffered a disastrous electoral defeat in the general election. Liam Cosgrave resigned as party leader and FitzGerald was chosen by acclamation to succeed him. In his new role as Leader of the Opposition and party leader he set about modernising and revitalising Fine Gael. He immediately appointed a General-Secretary to oversee all of this, a tactic copied from Fianna Fáil. FitzGerald took a personal tour of every constituency in Ireland in an effort to breathe new life into a demoralised Fine Gael.

Under FitzGerald, Fine Gael experienced a rapid rise in support and popularity. By the November 1982 election, it held only five seats fewer than Fianna Fáil (their closest ever margin; at times Fianna Fáil was nearly twice as large), with Fine Gael in the Oireachtas bigger than Fianna Fáil, an unprecedented achievement. Much of the success was FitzGerald's; he brought in a new generation of brilliant young politicians, including future Taoiseach John Bruton, future party leaders Alan Dukes and Michael Noonan, and other exceptional figures such as Jim Mitchell, Ivan Yates and Gemma Hussey. But Fine Gael's rise was in part a reaction to the controversial nature and unpopularity of his old college rival and now Fianna Fáil leader, Charles Haughey. The epic battles between Haughey and FitzGerald (or 'Charlie' and 'Garret' as it was personalised) dominated Irish politics in the 1980s.

[edit] Taoiseach 1981–1982

By the time of the 1981 general election Fine Gael had a party machine that could easily match Fianna Fáil's. The party won 65 seats and formed a minority coalition government with the Labour Party and the support of a number of Independent TDs. FitzGerald was elected Taoiseach on 30 June 1981.

FitzGerald showed an unsuspected toughness in naming a young and innovative Cabinet. Richie Ryan, Richard Burke and Tom O'Donnell, former Fine Gael stalwarts, were all excluded. Two fundamental problems faced FitzGerald during his first period, Northern Ireland and the worsening economic situation. A protest march in support of the H-Block hunger strikers in July 1981 was dealt with by FitzGerald through a combination of firmness and restraint.

The economic crisis was also a lot worse than FitzGerald had feared. Fine Gael had to jettison its plans for tax-cuts in the run-up to the election and a draconian mid-year budget was introduced almost immediately. The July Budget seemed exceptionally austere for a government dependent on Independent TDs support. However the second budget introduced by John Bruton led to the Government's shock defeat in Dáil Éireann on the evening of 27 January 1982.

Viewing his defeat as a Loss of Supply FitzGerald headed to Áras an Uachtaráin to request an immediate Dáil dissolution from the President, Patrick Hillery. When he got there, he was informed that a series of telephone calls had been made by senior opposition figures (and some independent TDs), including Fianna Fáil leader (and ex-Taoiseach) Charles Haughey, Brian Lenihan and Sylvester Barret demanding that the President, as he could constitutionally do where a Taoiseach had 'ceased to retain the support of a majority in Dáil Éireann', refuse FitzGerald a parliamentary dissolution, forcing his resignation as Taoiseach and enabling the Dáil to nominate someone else for the post. The President is said to have angrily rejected such pressure, regarding it as gross misconduct, and granted the dissolution.^[1]

In the subsequent general election in February 1982, Fine Gael lost only two seats and were out of power. However, a third general election within eighteen months in November 1982 resulted in FitzGerald being returned as Taoiseach for a second time, heading a Fine Gael-Labour coalition with a working majority.

[edit] Taoiseach 1982–1987

Deep economic recession dominated FitzGerald's second term as well as his first. The pursuit of ‘fiscal rectitude’ in order to reduce a high national debt required a firmer control of public spending than Labour found easy to accept. The harmonious relationship the Taoiseach developed with Tánaiste, Dick Spring, successfully avoided a collapse of the coalition for more than four years, despite tensions between other ministers, and enabled the Government to survive. Fine Gael wanted to revive the economy by controlling public spending and imposing cutbacks in order to reduce the public budget deficit. The measures proposed by FitzGerald's Minister for Finance, Alan Dukes, were completely unacceptable to the Labour Party which was under enormous pressure from its support base to maintain public services. The two parties in Government found themselves in a stalemate position. They stopped the financial crisis from worsening but could not take the decisive action that would generate economic growth. With negligible economic growth and large scale unemployment, the FitzGerald Government was deeply unpopular with the public. The Fianna Fail opposition added to the woes of the Government by taking a decidedly opportunistic and populist line in opposing every suggested reform and cutback.

[edit] Constitutional reform

As Taoiseach for a second time FitzGerald advocated a liberalisation of Irish society, to create what he called the non-sectarian nation of 'Tone and Davis'. His attempt to introduce divorce was defeated in a referendum, though he did liberalise Ireland's contraception laws. A controversial 'Pro-Life Amendment' (anti-abortion clause), which was stated to recognise the 'Right to Life of the Unborn, with due regard to the Equal Right to Life of the Mother' was added to the Irish constitution, against FitzGerald's advice, in a national referendum.

[edit] Northern Ireland

Perhaps FitzGerald’s most dramatic achievement as Taoiseach was in regard to Northern Ireland. The New Ireland Forum which he set up in 1983 brought together representatives of the constitutional political parties in the Republic and the nationalist SDLP from the North. Although the Unionist parties spurned his invitation to join, and the Forum’s conclusions proposing various forms of association between Northern Ireland and the Republic were rejected outright by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the Forum provided the impetus for the resumption of serious negotiations between the Irish and British governments, which culminated in the Anglo-Irish Agreement of November 1985. This agreement provided for a mechanism by which the Republic of Ireland could be consulted by the British Government under Margaret Thatcher regarding the governance of Northern Ireland, and was bitterly opposed by Unionists in Northern Ireland, whose MPs all resigned their seats in the British Parliament in protest. New elections were required to be held, and the unionists lost one seat (Newry and Armagh) to Seamus Mallon of the SDLP.

While the Agreement was repudiated and condemned by Unionists, it became the basis for developing trust and common action between the governments, which in time would ultimately bring about the Downing Street Declaration of 1993, and the subsequent republican and loyalist cease-fires.

In 1986, FitzGerald attempted to reshuffle his cabinet but certain ministers, including notably Barry Desmond refused to move from his Health and Social Welfare portfolio. The eventual outcome of the cabinet changes further undermined FitzGerald's authority. The new Progressive Democrats party was launched at the same time by Desmond O'Malley out of the divisions within Fianna Fail. Ironically, it struck an immediate chord with many disenchanted Fine Gael supporters who had tired of the failure to fully address the economic crisis and who yearned for a coherent rightwing policy from FitzGerald. Seeing its support base under attack from the right only strengthened the resolve of FitzGerald's Fine Gael colleagues to break with the Labour Party approach, despite their leader's close empathy with that party.

Stymied by economic crisis, FitzGerald tried to rescue some of his ambitions to reform the State and he proposed, in the summer of 1986, a referendum to change the Constitution to allow for divorce. The proposed amendment was mired in controversy and the many accompanying legal changes needed were not clearly presented. Haughey, despite hypocrisy over his own personal life, skilfully opposed the referendum along with the Roman Catholic Church and landed interests worried about property rights. The defeat of the referendum sealed the fate of the Government.

In January 1987, the Labour Party members of the government withdrew from the government over disagreements due to budget proposals. FitzGerald continued as Taoiseach heading a minority Fine Gael government and proposed the stringent budgetary cutbacks that Labour had blocked for some four years. The Progressive Democrats won some 14 seats and prevented Haughey achieving his overall majority once more. Fianna Fáil returned to power in March 1987, after Fine Gael were heavily defeated in the 1987 general election. Fianna Fail was to implement the very policies it had decried from the Opposition benches and to get support from FitzGerald's successor for doing so.

[edit] Post-Taoiseach period

FitzGerald retired as leader of Fine Gael immediately after the election by the Dail of Charles Haughey as Taoiseach, to be replaced by Alan Dukes. His autobiography, "All in a Life," appeared in 1991, immediately becoming a best-seller. He retired completely from politics at the 1992 general election. His wife, Joan, died in the 1999 after many years of a crippling illness. Since then he has written a popular weekly column every Saturday in The Irish Times, and lectures widely at home and abroad on public affairs. He came out of retirement to campaign for a yes vote in the second Nice referendum, held in 2002.

[edit] Assessment

Though a highly successful Minister for Foreign Affairs, FitzGerald was judged a relatively poor Taoiseach; his notoriously long cabinet meetings were dreaded by ministers, while differences in policy between Fine Gael and Labour prevented the Government from agreeing an approach to deal with the Irish economic crisis and spiralling government debt.

However, FitzGerald was one of the Republic of Ireland's most popular politicians, known to all sides simply as 'Garret'. His gregarious nature, his notorious ability to talk faster than many thought humanly possible, his genuine ecumenism and his 'absent minded professor' image, made him a major political force from his entry into Irish politics in the mid-1960s until his retirement in 1992. Garret FitzGerald was very much in the mode of a left-leaning Christian Democrat, typically found in Fine Gael's sister parties in Italy, Germany or the Netherlands. He was most definitely not from the right wing of Fine Gael despite his familial associations with the earlier Fine Gael. His party has never reclaimed the electoral heights of November, 1982, since his retirement. Fine Gael has gradually reverted to its traditional roots and lost the social democratic component that was distinctive of the FitzGerald era.

FitzGerald has returned to journalism and has also dedicated much of his retirement to the promotion of European integration. Since 2004 he has also been a Board Member of the Irish chapter of Transparency International, Transparency International Ireland

[edit] Governments

The following governments were led by FitzGerald:

• 17th Government of Ireland (June 1981–March 1982)
• 19th Government of Ireland (December 1982–March 1987)

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] Political career

Political offices
Preceded by Brian Lenihan	Minister for Foreign Affairs 1973–1977	Succeeded by Michael O'Kennedy
Preceded by Liam Cosgrave	Leader of the Fine Gael Party 1977–1987	Succeeded by Alan Dukes
Preceded by Jack Lynch	Leader of the Opposition 1977–1981	Succeeded by Charles Haughey
Preceded by Charles Haughey	Taoiseach 1981–1982	Succeeded by Charles Haughey
	Leader of the Opposition Mar. 1982–Dec. 1982
	Taoiseach 1982–1987
Preceded by T. K. Whitaker	Chancellor of the National University of Ireland 1997 – present	Incumbent

Prime Ministers of Ireland Taoisigh na hÉireann
Éamon de Valera • John A. Costello • Seán Lemass • Jack Lynch • Liam Cosgrave • Charles Haughey • Garret FitzGerald • Albert Reynolds • John Bruton • Bertie Ahern
Previous prime ministerial offices under earlier constitutions Príomh Aire (1919–1921) Cathal Brugha • Éamon de Valera President of the Irish Republic (1921–1922) Éamon de Valera • Arthur Griffith Chairman of the Provisional Government (1922) Michael Collins • W. T. Cosgrave President of the Executive Council (1922–1937) W. T. Cosgrave • Éamon de Valera

Leaders of Fine Gael
Eoin O'Duffy (1933–1934) • W. T. Cosgrave (1934–1944) • Richard Mulcahy (1944–1959) • James Dillon (1959–1965) • Liam Cosgrave (1965–1977) • Garret FitzGerald (1977–1987) • Alan Dukes (1987–1990) • John Bruton (1990–2001) • Michael Noonan (2001–2002) • Enda Kenny (2002–)