Fine Gael

Fine Gael (‘kindred of the Irish’), a political party founded on 8 September 1933 through a merger of Cumann na nGaedheal, the National Centre Party, and the National Guard (see blueshirts). This realignment was largely a response to the rapid rise of Fianna Fáil and its victories in the elections of 1932 and 1933. However, the new party performed less well in the next election in 1937 (34.8 per cent of the vote and 48 seats) than the combined support of its predecessors. Since then, the party's share of the vote at general elections has normally been between 25 and 35 per cent. It slumped to 19.8 per cent (31 seats) in 1948, but its participation at that time in the first ‘interparty government’ has been credited with rescuing the party from electoral eclipse. Indeed, it then began a steady recovery that lasted until the election of November 1982, when it won its largest ever share of the vote (39.2 per cent, 70 seats).

Although the personality of the first party leader, Eoin O'Duffy, endowed Fine Gael initially with a rather unconventional image, his successors, W. T. Cosgrave (1935–44) and Richard Mulcahy (1944–59), reflected the dominance within the party of the pro‐treaty, Cumann na nGaedheal tradition. The succession of James Dillon (1959–65), son of John Dillon, symbolized the extent to which the party had managed to absorb former supporters of the pre‐1918 Nationalist Party, while his two successors, Liam Cosgrave (1965–77) and Garret FitzGerald (1977–87), were sons of Cumann na nGaedheal ministers. The leadership of Alan Dukes (1987–90) represented a break with the older traditions within the party, but this trend was reversed when John Bruton took over as leader in 1990.

In policy terms, Fine Gael maintained the conservatism of its predecessor, though a centrist wing within the party made its presence felt in the late 1960s and was influential during the leadership of FitzGerald and Dukes. The party described itself in English as the ‘United Ireland Party’, and was more commonly known by this name in the 1930s. This reflected the party's moderate position on the national question, and it was associated with support for Ireland's position within the British Commonwealth. In 1948, however, it was a Fine Gael taoiseach, John A. Costello, who announced the government's decision to leave the Commonwealth.

John Coakley