Fianna Fáil

Fianna Fáil, the dominant political party in the Republic of Ireland since the 1930s.

History

Constituted in May 1926, Fianna Fáil comprised opponents of the Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921) that had brought the Irish Free State into existence. The party was established and led by Eamon de Valera, who had been imprisoned in 1923 for supporting republican armed resistance to the treaty. Members of Fianna Fáil at first refused to be seated in Dáil Éireann (Irish Assembly) but finally entered in 1927 (after it had become the lower house of the Oireachtas, the Irish parliament).

In 1932 Fianna Fáil gained 48 percent of the seats in the Dáil, and de Valera became prime minister (president of the Executive Council). The party’s nationalism and its organizational ability, together with the fragmentation of the opposition, enabled it to dominate Irish politics for the following 42 years, when it was out of office only during 1948–51 and 1954–57. Often ruling without an overall majority and obtaining support from independents and in some cases from the Labour Party, Fianna Fáil governed as a single party until 1973, when the advent of a coalition government of the Fine Gael party and Labour signaled the onset of greater competition. Although a revitalized Fianna Fáil returned to office with a record vote (51 percent) in 1977, the party failed to obtain an overall majority of seats during the remainder of the 20th century and into the 21st.

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De Valera was succeeded as taoiseach (prime minister) in 1959 by Seán Lemass. By this time the party’s economic policies, which formerly had aimed at Irish self-sufficiency, were revised to eliminate protections for domestic industries and encourage foreign investment, a change that was accelerated with Ireland’s accession to the European Economic Community (now the European Community, embedded in the European Union) in 1973. Modernization put new issues on the political agenda, and divisions within the party were intensified when the outbreak of violence in Northern Ireland forced a reevaluation of the party’s traditional support for Irish unification. Factional conflict—over issues such as Northern Ireland, economic development, and the “moral agenda” (the legalization of divorce, abortion, and contraception)—plagued the party over the following decades. It was particularly acute in the early 1980s under the leadership of Charles Haughey and provoked some members to leave in 1985 to found a new party, the Progressive Democrats.

Despite the defection, Fianna Fáil continued to dominate Irish politics, heading governments from the late 1980s—except 1994–97 when it was out of power. Led by Bertie Ahern, the party played a major role in brokering peace in Northern Ireland. In 1998 the Good Friday Agreement (Belfast Agreement) was signed by the Irish and British governments and nationalist (Roman Catholic) and unionist (Protestant) political parties in Northern Ireland. As part of the peace plan, the Northern Ireland Assembly was subsequently established.

In 2008, amid an investigation into possible past financial misconduct, Ahern resigned as taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil. He was replaced by Brian Cowen, whose rule was undone by the Irish component of the global financial crisis when his government had to rescue Ireland’s banking system and then was forced to accept a bailout from the International Monetary Fund and European Union in late 2010. In a flurry of events, Cowen resigned as party leader early in 2011 but remained on as caretaker taoiseach until Fianna Fáil, led by Micheál Martin, was trounced by Fine Gael in early elections in February, suffering its worst showing at the polls in some 80 years. After tumbling toward oblivion, Fianna Fáil returned in force in the 2016 election, capturing 44 seats to finish second to Fine Gael, whose turn it was to watch its representation shrink as it and its coalition partner, the Labour Party, lost their majority. Fine Gael remained in power only by securing a pledge from Fianna Fáil to abstain from key votes until 2018 in return for policy concessions. In 2020 Sinn Féin upset the traditional two-party dominance of Irish politics by securing 37 seats in the Dáil, prompting Fianna Fáil, which took 38 seats, and Fine Gael, which captured 35, to form their first-ever coalition government, which also included the Green Party.

Policy and structure

The party’s ideology has some enduring aspects, notably a commitment to Irish unity, to the Irish language, and to neutrality, though these commitments are essentially aspirational and occasionally merely rhetorical. Generally, the party has been pragmatically cautious on most issues. It has broadly supported an interventionist approach to economic management and, particularly in recent years, has sought agreement on economic policy among major economic interest groups. Socially radical and redistributive in its early years, it soon became more conservative, and it was particularly so under Haughey on such issues as divorce. From the 1940s it promoted itself as the only possible source of stable government.

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The basic unit of party organization is the local branch. Above this level are delegate bodies based on constituencies, including those based on the Dáil constituency, called Comhairle Dáilcheantair. The latter bodies select Dáil candidates, though strategy is influenced by the head office, and the party leader may also impose candidates on a constituency. The Ard-Fheis (Annual Conference) is the supreme governing body but in practice cedes most of its authority to a much smaller Executive Committee, which oversees the organization, and to senior ministers or spokespersons (when the party is in opposition), who effectively determine policy. The Ard-Fheis elects the president of the party, but in practice this office is always occupied by the parliamentary party leader, who is elected by the party’s deputies.

Fianna Fáil’s massive following, averaging more than two-fifths of the vote since 1927, has traditionally cut across class divisions, justifying its image as a national movement. However, the party has done less well in the Dublin region since 1969, as the Labour Party and new minor parties have eaten into its vote. Although it remains easily the largest party in Ireland, its support is apparently in slow decline.