Taoiseach

Taoiseach
	Incumbent; Micheál Martin; since 27 June 2020
	Department of the Taoiseach
Style	Taoiseach; Irish: A Thaoisigh
Member of	Dáil Éireann; Cabinet; Council of State; European Council;
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
Formation	29 December 1937
Deputy	Tánaiste
Salary	€207,590 annually
Website	taoiseach.gov.ie

The Taoiseach (ⁱ/ˈtiːʃəx/),^[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]

Appointment

When 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

The 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 Leo Varadkar since 14 June 2017.

List

President of the Executive Council

No.

Portrait

Name
(Birth–Death)
Constituency

Term of office

Party

Exec. Council
Composition

Vice President

Dáil
(elected)

style="background:Template:Cumann na nGaedheal/meta/color; color:white;" rowspan=5 |1

W. T. Cosgrave
(1880–1965)
TD for Carlow–Kilkenny until 1927
TD for Cork Borough from 1927

6 December
1922^{[note 2]}

9 March
1932

Sinn Féin
(Pro-Treaty)

1st

SF (PT) (minority)

style="background-color: Template:Cumann na nGaedheal/meta/color" rowspan=5 |

Kevin O'Higgins

3 (1922)

Cumann na nGaedheal

2nd

CnG (minority)

4 (1923)

3rd

Ernest Blythe

5 (Jun.1927)

4th

6 (Sep.1927)

5th

style="background:Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color; color:white;" rowspan=3 |2

Éamon de Valera
(1882–1975)
TD for Clare

9 March
1932^{[note 3]}

29 December
1937

Fianna Fáil

6th

FF (minority)

style="background-color: Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color" rowspan=3 |

Seán T. O'Kelly

7 (1932)

7th

8 (1933)

8th

9 (1937)

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death) Constituency	Term of office		Party	Exec. Council Composition		Vice President		Dáil (elected)
President of the Executive Council
style="background:Template:Cumann na nGaedheal/meta/color; color:white;" rowspan=5 \|1		W. T. Cosgrave (1880–1965) TD for Carlow–Kilkenny until 1927 TD for Cork Borough from 1927	6 December 1922^{[note 2]}	9 March 1932	Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty)	1st	SF (PT) (minority)	style="background-color: Template:Cumann na nGaedheal/meta/color" rowspan=5 \|	Kevin O'Higgins	3 (1922)
Cumann na nGaedheal					2nd	CnG (minority)	4 (1923)		Kevin O'Higgins
					3rd		Ernest Blythe	5 (Jun.1927)
					4th			6 (Sep.1927)
					5th			6 (Sep.1927)
style="background:Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color; color:white;" rowspan=3 \|2		Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) TD for Clare	9 March 1932^{[note 3]}	29 December 1937	Fianna Fáil	6th	FF (minority)	style="background-color: Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color" rowspan=3 \|	Seán T. O'Kelly	7 (1932)
7th						8 (1933)
8th						9 (1937)
Taoiseach
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death) Constituency	Term of office		Party	Government Composition		Tánaiste		Dáil (elected)
style="background:Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color; color:white;" rowspan=4 \|(2)		Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) TD for Clare	29 December 1937	18 February 1948	Fianna Fáil	1st	FF (minority)	style="background-color: Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color" rowspan=3 \|	Seán T. O'Kelly	9 ( ···· )
2nd						FF	10 (1938)
3rd						FF (minority)	11 (1943)
4th						FF	style="background-color: Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color" \|	Seán Lemass	12 (1944)
style="background:Template:Fine Gael/meta/color; color:white;" \|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	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (Ireland)/meta/color" \|	William Norton	13 (1948)
style="background:Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color; color:white;" \|(2)		Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) TD for Clare	13 June 1951	2 June 1954	Fianna Fáil	6th	FF (minority)	style="background-color: Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color" \|	Seán Lemass	14 (1951)
style="background:Template:Fine Gael/meta/color; color:white;" \|(3)		John A. Costello (1891–1976) TD for Dublin South-East	2 June 1954	20 March 1957	Fine Gael	7th	FG–Lab–CnT	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (Ireland)/meta/color" \|	William Norton	15 (1954)
style="background:Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color; color:white;" \|(2)		Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) TD for Clare	20 March 1957	23 June 1959	Fianna Fáil	8th	FF	style="background-color: Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color" \|	Seán Lemass	16 (1957)
style="background:Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color; color:white;" rowspan=3 \|4		Seán Lemass (1899–1971) TD for Dublin South-Central	23 June 1959	10 November 1966	Fianna Fáil	9th	FF	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color" \|	Seán MacEntee	16 (1957)
10th						FF (minority)	17 (1961)		Seán MacEntee
11th						FF	style="background-color: Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color" rowspan="2" \|	Frank Aiken	18 (1965)
style="background:Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color; color:white;" rowspan=2 \|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	Frank Aiken	18 (1965)
13th			10 November 1966	14 March 1973	Fianna Fáil	FF	style="background-color: Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color" \|	Erskine H. Childers	19 (1969)
style="background:Template:Fine Gael/meta/color; color:white;" \|6		Liam Cosgrave (1920–2017) TD for Dún Laoghaire and Rathdown	14 March 1973	5 July 1977	Fine Gael	14th	FG–Lab	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (Ireland)/meta/color" \|	Brendan Corish	20 (1973)
style="background:Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color; color:white;" \|(5)		Jack Lynch (1917–1999) TD for Cork City	5 July 1977	11 December 1979	Fianna Fáil	15th	FF	style="background-color: Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color" rowspan="2" \|	George Colley	21 (1977)
style="background:Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color; color:white;" \|7		Charles Haughey (1925–2006) TD for Dublin Artane	11 December 1979	30 June 1981	Fianna Fáil	16th	FF		George Colley	21 (1977)
style="background:Template:Fine Gael/meta/color; color:white;" \|8		Garret FitzGerald (1926–2011) TD for Dublin South-East	30 June 1981	9 March 1982	Fine Gael	17th	FG–Lab (minority)	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (Ireland)/meta/color" \|	Michael O'Leary	22 (1981)
style="background:Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color; color:white;" \|(7)		Charles Haughey (1925–2006) TD for Dublin North-Central	9 March 1982	14 December 1982	Fianna Fáil	18th	FF (minority)	style="background-color: Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color" \|	Ray MacSharry	23 (Feb.1982)
style="background:Template:Fine Gael/meta/color; color:white;" rowspan=2 \|(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	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (Ireland)/meta/color" \|	Dick Spring	24 (Nov.1982)
style="background-color: Template:Fine Gael/meta/color" \|		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	Peter Barry		24 (Nov.1982)
style="background:Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color; color:white;" rowspan=3 \|(7)		Charles Haughey (1925–2006) TD for Dublin North-Central	10 March 1987	11 February 1992	Fianna Fáil	20th	FF (minority)	style="background-color: Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color" rowspan="2" \|	Brian Lenihan	25 (1987)
21st						FF–PD	26 (1989)		Brian Lenihan
21st						FF–PD		rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color" \|	John Wilson
style="background:Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color; color:white;" rowspan=3 \|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	John Wilson
23rd						FF–Lab FF (minority) from Nov 1994	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (Ireland)/meta/color" \|	Dick Spring	27 (1992)
23rd						FF–Lab FF (minority) from Nov 1994	style="background-color: Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color" \|	Bertie Ahern
style="background:Template:Fine Gael/meta/color; color:white;" \|10		John Bruton (b. 1947) TD for Meath	15 December 1994	26 June 1997	Fine Gael	24th	FG–Lab–DL	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (Ireland)/meta/color" \|		Dick Spring
rowspan=4 style="background:Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color; color:white;" \|11		Bertie Ahern (b. 1951) TD for Dublin Central	26 June 1997	7 May 2008	Fianna Fáil	25th	FF–PD (minority)	rowspan=3 style="background-color: Template:Progressive Democrats/meta/color" \|	Mary Harney	28 (1997)
26th						FF–PD	29 (2002)		Mary Harney
26th						FF–PD	29 (2002)	Michael McDowell
27th						FF–Green–PD	style="background-color: Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color" \|	Brian Cowen	30 (2007)
style="background:Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color; color:white;" \|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	style="background-color: Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color" \|	30 (2007)	Mary Coughlan
rowspan=3 style="background:Template:Fine Gael/meta/color; color:white;" \|13		Enda Kenny (b. 1951) TD for Mayo	9 March 2011	14 June 2017^[6]	Fine Gael	29th	FG–Lab	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (Ireland)/meta/color" \|	Eamon Gilmore	31 (2011)
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (Ireland)/meta/color" \|						29th	FG–Lab	Joan Burton		31 (2011)
30th						FG–Ind (minority)	rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:Fine Gael/meta/color" \|	Frances Fitzgerald	32 (2016)
rowspan="2" style="background:Template:Fine Gael/meta/color; color:white;" \|14		Leo Varadkar (b. 1979) TD for Dublin West	14 June 2017^[7]	27 June 2020	Fine Gael	31st	FG–Ind (minority)	Frances Fitzgerald
Simon Coveney		Leo Varadkar (b. 1979) TD for Dublin West	14 June 2017^[7]	27 June 2020	Fine Gael	31st	FG–Ind (minority)
style="background:Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color; color:white;" \|15		Micheál Martin (b. 1960) TD for Cork South-Central	27 June 2020	Incumbent	Fianna Fáil	32nd	FF–FG–Green	style="background-color: Template:Fine Gael/meta/color" \|	Leo Varadkar	33 (2020)

Notes

↑ 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.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Cosgrave also headed the Irish Government 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).
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 De Valera also headed the pre-independence revolutionary Irish Government from 1 April 1919 to 9 January 1922 (See Irish heads of government since 1919).

References

↑ Oireachtas, Houses of the. "Salaries, Houses of the Oireachtas". http://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/tdssenators/salariesallowances/salaries/. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
↑ "Taoiseach: definition of Taoiseach in Oxford dictionary (British & World English). Meaning, pronunciation and origin of the word". Oxford University Press. 2013. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Taoiseach?q=Taoiseach. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
↑ Keeping the Irish definite article an /ən/ instead of English the.
↑ "BUNREACHT NA hÉIREANN". http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/upload/static/256.htm. "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". http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/upload/static/256.htm. "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. https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0613/882267-enda-kenny/. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
↑ Lord, Miriam (8 June 2017). Taoiseach-in-waiting meets man waiting to be taoiseach. http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/leo-varadkar-the-man-who-evolved-into-a-taoiseach-1.3106073. Retrieved 10 June 2017.

[Cosgrave-1] 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.

[CosgravePreIndependence-7] 2.0 ^2.1 Cosgrave also headed the Irish Government 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).

[DeValeraPreIndependence-8] 3.0 ^3.1 De Valera also headed the pre-independence revolutionary Irish Government from 1 April 1919 to 9 January 1922 (See Irish heads of government since 1919).

[2] Oireachtas, Houses of the. "Salaries, Houses of the Oireachtas". http://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/tdssenators/salariesallowances/salaries/. Retrieved 2 November 2019.

[3] "Taoiseach: definition of Taoiseach in Oxford dictionary (British & World English). Meaning, pronunciation and origin of the word". Oxford University Press. 2013. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Taoiseach?q=Taoiseach. Retrieved 30 November 2013.

[4] Keeping the Irish definite article an /ən/ instead of English the.

[5] "BUNREACHT NA hÉIREANN". http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/upload/static/256.htm. "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."

[6] "BUNREACHT NA hÉIREANN". http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/upload/static/256.htm. "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."

[9] Kenny's farewell: 'This has never been about me'. RTÉ News. 13 June 2017. https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0613/882267-enda-kenny/. Retrieved 14 June 2017.

[IrishTimes2017-06-08a-10] Lord, Miriam (8 June 2017). Taoiseach-in-waiting meets man waiting to be taoiseach. http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/leo-varadkar-the-man-who-evolved-into-a-taoiseach-1.3106073. Retrieved 10 June 2017.

[note 1]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[note 2]

[note 3]

[6]

[7]

Taoiseach

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Appointment

Department of the Taoiseach

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President of the Executive Council

President of the Executive Council

Taoiseach

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References

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Taoiseach

Incumbent Micheál Martin since 27 June 2020
Department of the Taoiseach
Style	Taoiseach Irish: A Thaoisigh
Member of	Dáil Éireann Cabinet Council of State European Council
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.gov.ie