Fine Gael

Fine Gael, centrist political party that has provided the major political opposition to the Fianna Fáil party in Ireland.

History

Fine Gael was founded in September 1933 in the amalgamation of Cumann na nGaedheal (“Party of the Irish”)—the party of William Thomas Cosgrave, first president of the Irish Free State—and two lesser parties, the Centre Party (formerly the Farmers’ Party) and the National Guard (formerly the Army Comrades Association), also known as the “Blueshirts.” Cumann na nGaedheal represented the supporters of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, which brought into existence the Irish Free State. Identifying itself as the party of peace and stability, Cumann na nGaedheal gained 41 percent of the seats in the Free State’s first elections in 1923 and formed a minority government under Cosgrave; it remained in power until it was defeated by its main opposition, Fianna Fáil, in 1932. In response, Cosgrave created a larger and more heterogeneous party, which he called Fine Gael, in 1933. The new party, however, did not achieve national office until 1948, when John Costello formed a five-party coalition government (1948–51). Fine Gael soon led another coalition into office (1954–57) but then returned to the political wilderness until a preelection deal with the Labour Party enabled it to return to power (1973–77) under Liam Cosgrave, the son of Fine Gael’s founder. This partnership was the result of a new pragmatism in the Labour Party and Fine Gael’s shift toward an agenda of social reform, which was accelerated when Garret FitzGerald succeeded Cosgrave as party leader following election defeat in 1977. Fine Gael later governed in coalition with Labour (1981–82; 1982–87) and with Labour and Democratic Left (1994–97) under John Bruton. The party subsequently suffered a major decline in support, falling from 54 seats in 1997 to only 31 in 2002.

Within weeks of this loss, the party elected a new leader, Enda Kenny, and began rebuilding. Fine Gael fared much better in the 2007 elections, capturing 51 seats, but it was still unable to form a government. A bank collapse and government bailout in 2008 led to unsustainable levels of public spending, and Ireland was forced to apply for more than $100 billion in loans from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union in late 2010. Unpopular austerity measures put a strain on the ruling Fianna Fail–Green Party coalition, and early elections were scheduled for 2011. Fine Gael candidates campaigned on the promise to create jobs, to reduce the size and increase the efficiency of government, and to restructure the loan agreement with the IMF. Kenny emerged as an effective spokesperson for the party’s agenda, and Fine Gael scored a historic victory at the polls in February 2011. Fine Gael subsequently formed a coalition with Labour, and Kenny was formally elected taoiseach (prime minister) in March 2011 by the greatest margin in the history of the Dáil.

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The 2016 election was a very different story, as the Fine Gael–Labour coalition lost its majority. Kenny and the party clung to power as a minority government by crafting a deal whereby Fianna Fáil agreed to abstain from key votes until 2018 in return for policy concessions. In February 2017 a scandal involving the public smearing of a police whistleblower expanded to include Kenny, who stepped down as party leader and taoiseach in June. He was replaced by Leo Varadkar, who became Ireland’s first openly gay taoiseach. In the 2020 election for the Dáil, Fine Gael fell to third place behind Fianna Fáil and a surging Sinn Féin. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil then formed their first-ever coalition government, which also included the Green Party.

Policy and structure

Although its roots lay in the controversy surrounding the “national question,” Fine Gael was essentially a conservative party whose raison d’être was to oppose Fianna Fáil. A reform program, “Planning for a Just Society” (1965), signified a desire among some members of Fine Gael for a new identity. It took another decade for this desire to have any significant effect on party policies, however, as many members were reluctant to embrace the so-called “liberal” agenda, especially the reform of laws relating to divorce and contraception. Party members remained relatively conservative on these issues. By the end of the century the party considered itself a member of Europe’s Christian Democratic family—an economically interventionist, centrist party committed to the market economy, social responsibility, and strong support for European integration. Its nationalism was more moderate than that of Fianna Fáil.

The basic unit of party organization is the local branch. Above this level is a delegate body representing local council constituencies, for local councils, and above that is another body representing Dáil (lower house of Parliament) constituencies, comprising local public representatives plus delegates from local branches. These bodies select candidates for local councils and the Dáil, respectively. Traditionally, constituencies were relatively independent of the centre and were often dominated by local deputies, but under FitzGerald the party structure was reformed to weaken their power. More recently the party introduced a one-member, one-vote system for candidate selection, though the head office may still add candidates to a list. In theory the Ard-Fheis (Annual Conference) is the supreme governing body, but in practice it cedes most of its power to a much smaller Executive Committee, and policy is effectively determined by senior ministers or—when the party is in opposition—by spokesmen. The Ard-Fheis elects the president of the party, usually the parliamentary party leader, who already has been elected by the party’s representatives in the Oireachtas (Parliament) and the European Parliament.

Fine Gael long averaged about 30 percent of the national vote, though its support began to drop below that figure after 1982. Its support is disproportionately rural, coming particularly from large farmers, and has suffered as that segment of the population has declined in numbers. It has done particularly well among the middle class, and at its peak in 1982, when it won 39 percent of the vote and had real hopes of mounting a serious challenge to Fianna Fáil as Ireland’s largest party, it did well in all groups.

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