Taoiseach

Taoiseach
Incumbent Simon Harris since 9 April 2024
Executive branch of the Irish Government Department of the Taoiseach
Style	Irish: A Thaoisigh
Type	Head of government
Member of	Dáil Éireann Cabinet Council of State British–Irish Council European Council
Reports to	Oireachtas
Residence	None
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.
Precursor	President of the Executive Council
Formation	29 December 1937
First holder	Éamon de Valera
Deputy	Tánaiste
Salary	€241,480 annually (2024) (including €112,553 salary as a TD)
Website	Department of the Taoiseach

The Taoiseach (/ˈtiːʃəx/ ) is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the office-holder must retain the support of a majority in the Dáil to remain in office.

The Irish word taoiseach means "chief" or "leader", and was adopted in the 1937 Constitution of Ireland as the title of the "head of the Government or Prime Minister". It is the official title of the head of government in both English and Irish, and is not used for the prime ministers of other countries, who are instead referred to in Irish by the generic term príomh-aire. The phrase an Taoiseach is sometimes used in an otherwise English-language context, and means the same as "the Taoiseach".

The incumbent Taoiseach is Simon Harris, TD, leader of Fine Gael, who took office on 9 April 2024 following the resignation of Leo Varadkar and under a planned rotation as part of the coalition agreement between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and the Green Party. Varadkar held the post from December 2022 and Micheál Martin, TD held the post from June 2020 until December 2022 as part of that agreement. Varadkar tendered his resignation as Taoiseach to the President on 8 April 2024; he was succeeded by Simon Harris the next day after his Dáil election and appointment, becoming the youngest officeholder in state history.

Overview

Under the Constitution of Ireland, the Taoiseach is nominated by a simple majority of the voting members of Dáil Éireann. They are then formally appointed to office by the President, who is required to appoint whomever the Dáil designates, without the option of declining to make the appointment. For this reason, the Taoiseach may, informally, be said to have been "elected" by Dáil Éireann.

If the Taoiseach loses the support of a majority in Dáil Éireann, they are not automatically removed from office. Instead, they are compelled either to resign or to persuade the President to dissolve the Dáil and call new elections. If the President "in his absolute discretion" refuses to grant a dissolution, this effectively forces the Taoiseach to resign. To date, no President has ever refused a dissolution, although the option to exercise this prerogative arose in 1944 and 1994, and twice in 1982. The Taoiseach may lose the support of Dáil Éireann by the passage of a vote of no confidence, or implicitly, through the failure of a vote of confidence. Alternatively, the Dáil may refuse supply. In the event of the Taoiseach's resignation, they continue to exercise the duties and functions of office until the appointment of a successor.

The Taoiseach nominates the remaining members of the Government, who are then, with the consent of the Dáil, appointed by the President. The Taoiseach may advise the President to dismiss cabinet ministers from office; which the President does not have discretion on. The Taoiseach is responsible for appointing eleven members of the sixty members of the Seanad.

The Department of the Taoiseach is the government department which supports and advises the Taoiseach in carrying out their various duties. The Taoiseach is assisted by one or more Ministers of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, one of whom is the Government Chief Whip.

Salary

Since 2013, the Taoiseach's annual salary is €185,350. It was cut from €214,187 to €200,000 when Enda Kenny took office, before being cut further to €185,350 under the Haddington Road Agreement in 2013.

A proposed increase of €38,000 in 2007 was deferred when Brian Cowen became Taoiseach and in October 2008, the government announced a 10% salary cut for all ministers, including the Taoiseach. However this was a voluntary cut and the salaries remained nominally the same with both ministers and Taoiseach essentially refusing 10% of their salary. This caused controversy in December 2009 when a salary cut of 20% was based on the higher figure before the refused amount was deducted. The Taoiseach is also allowed an additional €118,981 in annual expenses.

Residence

There is no official residence of the Taoiseach. In 2008, it was reported speculatively that the former Steward's Lodge at Farmleigh adjoining the Phoenix Park would become the official residence of the Taoiseach. However, no official statements were made nor any action taken. The house, which forms part of the Farmleigh estate acquired by the State in 1999 for €29.2 million, was renovated at a cost of nearly €600,000 in 2005 by the Office of Public Works. Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern did not use it as a residence, but his successor Brian Cowen used it occasionally, as did later Taoisigh Enda Kenny and Leo Varadkar, who each paid €50 per night for the use of the house to avoid benefit-in-kind tax being levied on them for use of the house as a grace and favour mansion.

Salute

"Mór Chluana" ("More of Cloyne") is a traditional air collected by Patrick Weston Joyce in 1873. "Amhrán Dóchais" ("Song of Hope") is a poem written by Osborn Bergin in 1913. John A. Costello chose the air as his musical salute. The salute is played by army bands on the arrival of the Taoiseach at state ceremonies. Though the salute is often called "Amhrán Dóchais", Brian Ó Cuív argued "Mór Chluana" is the correct title.

History

Origins and etymology

The words Taoiseach and Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) are both from the Irish language and of ancient origin. Though the Taoiseach is described in the Constitution of Ireland as "the head of the Government or Prime Minister", its literal translation is 'chieftain' or 'leader'. Although Éamon de Valera, who introduced the title in 1937, was a democratic politician who had in the past associated with paramilitaries, some have remarked that the meaning 'leader' in 1937 made the title similar to the titles of fascist dictators of the time, such as Führer (for Adolf Hitler), Duce (for Benito Mussolini) and Caudillo (for Francisco Franco). Tánaiste, in turn, refers to the system of tanistry, the Gaelic system of succession whereby a leader would appoint an heir apparent while still living.

In Scottish Gaelic, tòiseach translates as 'clan chief' and both words originally had similar meanings in the Gaelic languages of Scotland and Ireland. The related Welsh language word tywysog (current meaning: 'prince') has a similar origin and meaning. It is hypothesised that both derive ultimately from the proto-Celtic *towissākos 'chieftain, leader'.

The plural of taoiseach is taoisigh (Northern and Western Irish: [ˈt̪ˠiːʃiː], Southern: [ˈt̪ˠiːʃɪɟ]).

Although the Irish form An Taoiseach is sometimes used in English instead of 'the Taoiseach', the English version of the Constitution states that they "shall be called … the Taoiseach".

Debate on the title

In 1937 when the draft Constitution of Ireland was being debated in the Dáil, Frank MacDermot, an opposition politician, moved an amendment to substitute "Prime Minister" for the proposed "Taoiseach" title in the English text of the Constitution. It was proposed to keep the "Taoiseach" title in the Irish language text. The proponent remarked:

It seems to me to be mere make-believe to try to incorporate a word like "Taoiseach" in the English language. It would be pronounced wrongly by 99 percent of the people. I have already ascertained it is a very difficult word to pronounce correctly. That being so, even for the sake of the dignity of the Irish language, it would be more sensible that when speaking English we should be allowed to refer to the gentleman in question as the Prime Minister... It is just one more example of the sort of things that are being done here as if for the purpose of putting off the people in the North. No useful purpose of any kind can be served by compelling us, when speaking English, to refer to An Taoiseach rather than to the Prime Minister.

The President of the Executive Council, Éamon de Valera, gave the term's meaning as "chieftain" or "Captain". He said he was "not disposed" to support the proposed amendment and felt the word "Taoiseach" did not need to be changed. The proposed amendment was defeated on a vote and "Taoiseach" was included as the title ultimately adopted by plebiscite of the people.

Modern office

Department of the Taoiseach at Government Buildings, Merrion Street, Dublin

The modern position of Taoiseach was established by the 1937 Constitution of Ireland and is the most powerful role in Irish politics. The office replaced the position of President of the Executive Council of the 1922–1937 Irish Free State.

The positions of Taoiseach and President of the Executive Council differed in certain fundamental respects. Under the Constitution of the Irish Free State, the latter was vested with considerably less power and was largely just the chairman of the cabinet, the Executive Council. For example, the President of the Executive Council could not dismiss a fellow minister on his own authority. Instead, the Executive Council had to be disbanded and reformed entirely to remove a member. The President of the Executive Council also did not have the right to advise the Governor-General to dissolve Dáil Éireann on his own authority, that power belonging collectively to the Executive Council.

In contrast, the Taoiseach created in 1937 possesses a much more powerful role. The holder of the position can both advise the President to dismiss ministers and dissolve Parliament on his own authority—advice that the President is almost always required to follow by convention. His role is greatly enhanced because, under the Constitution, he is both de jure and de facto chief executive. In most other parliamentary democracies, the head of state is at least the nominal chief executive, while being bound by convention to act on the advice of the cabinet. In Ireland, however, executive power is explicitly vested in the Government, of which the Taoiseach is the leader.

Since the Taoiseach is the head of government, and may remove ministers at will, many of the powers specified, in law or the constitution, to be exercised by the government as a collective body, are in reality at the will of the Taoiseach. The Government almost always backs the Taoiseach in major decisions, and in many cases often merely formalises that decision at a subsequent meeting after it has already been announced. Nevertheless, the need for collective decision-making on paper acts as a safeguard against an unwise decision made by the Taoiseach.

Generally, where there have been multi-party or coalition governments, the Taoiseach has been the leader of the largest party in the coalition. One exception to this was John A. Costello, who was not the leader of his party, but an agreed choice to head the government, because the other parties refused to accept then Fine Gael leader Richard Mulcahy as Taoiseach. In 2011 Taoiseach Brian Cowen, resigned as party leader and was succeeded by Micheál Martin, but continued as Taoiseach until the formation of a new government following a general election.

List of office holders

Main articles: Irish heads of government since 1919 and Records of Irish heads of government since 1922

Before the enactment of the 1937 Constitution, the head of government was the President of the Executive Council. This office was held by W. T. Cosgrave of Cumann na nGaedheal from 1922 to 1932, and by Éamon de Valera of Fianna Fáil from 1932 to 1937. By convention, Taoisigh are numbered to include Cosgrave; therefore, Micheál Martin is considered the 15th Taoiseach, not the 14th.

President of the Executive Council
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death) Constituency	Term of office		Party	Exec. Council Composition		Vice President		Dáil (elected)
1		W. T. Cosgrave (1880–1965) TD for Carlow–Kilkenny until 1927 TD for Cork Borough from 1927	6 December 1922	9 March 1932	Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty)	1st	SF (PT) (minority)		Kevin O'Higgins	3 (1922)
					Cumann na nGaedheal	2nd	CnG (minority)			4 (1923)
						3rd			Ernest Blythe	5 (Jun.1927)
						4th				6 (Sep.1927)
						5th
2		Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) TD for Clare	9 March 1932	29 December 1937	Fianna Fáil	6th	FF (minority)		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)
(2)		Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) TD for Clare	29 December 1937	18 February 1948	Fianna Fáil	1st	FF (minority)		Seán T. O'Kelly	9 ( ···· )
						2nd	FF			10 (1938)
						3rd	FF (minority)			11 (1943)
						4th	FF		Seán Lemass	12 (1944)
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		William Norton	13 (1948)
(2)		Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) TD for Clare	13 June 1951	2 June 1954	Fianna Fáil	6th	FF (minority)		Seán Lemass	14 (1951)
(3)		John A. Costello (1891–1976) TD for Dublin South-East	2 June 1954	20 March 1957	Fine Gael	7th	FG–Lab–CnT		William Norton	15 (1954)
(2)		Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) TD for Clare	20 March 1957	23 June 1959	Fianna Fáil	8th	FF		Seán Lemass	16 (1957)
4		Seán Lemass (1899–1971) TD for Dublin South-Central	23 June 1959	10 November 1966	Fianna Fáil	9th	FF		Seán MacEntee
						10th	FF (minority)			17 (1961)
						11th	FF		Frank Aiken	18 (1965)
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
						13th	FF		Erskine H. Childers	19 (1969)
6		Liam Cosgrave (1920–2017) TD for Dún Laoghaire and Rathdown	14 March 1973	5 July 1977	Fine Gael	14th	FG–Lab		Brendan Corish	20 (1973)
(5)		Jack Lynch (1917–1999) TD for Cork City	5 July 1977	11 December 1979	Fianna Fáil	15th	FF		George Colley	21 (1977)
7		Charles Haughey (1925–2006) TD for Dublin Artane	11 December 1979	30 June 1981	Fianna Fáil	16th	FF
8		Garret FitzGerald (1926–2011) TD for Dublin South-East	30 June 1981	9 March 1982	Fine Gael	17th	FG–Lab (minority)		Michael O'Leary	22 (1981)
(7)		Charles Haughey (1925–2006) TD for Dublin North-Central	9 March 1982	14 December 1982	Fianna Fáil	18th	FF (minority)		Ray MacSharry	23 (Feb.1982)
(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		Dick Spring	24 (Nov.1982)
									Peter Barry
(7)		Charles Haughey (1925–2006) TD for Dublin North-Central	10 March 1987	11 February 1992	Fianna Fáil	20th	FF (minority)		Brian Lenihan	25 (1987)
						21st	FF–PD			26 (1989)
									John Wilson
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
						23rd	FF–Lab FF (minority) from Nov 1994		Dick Spring	27 (1992)
									Bertie Ahern
10		John Bruton (1947–2024) TD for Meath	15 December 1994	26 June 1997	Fine Gael	24th	FG–Lab–DL		Dick Spring
11		Bertie Ahern (b. 1951) TD for Dublin Central	26 June 1997	7 May 2008	Fianna Fáil	25th	FF–PD (minority)		Mary Harney	28 (1997)
						26th	FF–PD			29 (2002)
									Michael McDowell
						27th	FF–Green–PD		Brian Cowen	30 (2007)
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		Mary Coughlan
13		Enda Kenny (b. 1951) TD for Mayo	9 March 2011	14 June 2017	Fine Gael	29th	FG–Lab		Eamon Gilmore	31 (2011)
									Joan Burton
						30th	FG–Ind (minority)		Frances Fitzgerald	32 (2016)
14		Leo Varadkar (b. 1979) TD for Dublin West	14 June 2017	27 June 2020	Fine Gael	31st	FG–Ind (minority)
									Simon Coveney
15		Micheál Martin (b. 1960) TD for Cork South-Central	27 June 2020	17 December 2022	Fianna Fáil	32nd	FF–FG–Green		Leo Varadkar	33 (2020)
(14)		Leo Varadkar (b. 1979) TD for Dublin West	17 December 2022	9 April 2024	Fine Gael	33rd	FG–FF–Green		Micheál Martin
16		Simon Harris (b. 1986) TD for Wicklow	9 April 2024	Incumbent	Fine Gael	34th	FG–FF–Green

Timeline

Further reading

• Farrell, Brian (1971). Chairman or Chief?: The Role of the Taoiseach in Irish Government. Gill & Macmillan.
• O'Malley, Eoin (2012). "The Apex of Government: Cabinet and Taoiseach in operation". In O'Malley, Eoin; MacCarthaigh, Muiris (eds.). Governing Ireland: From cabinet government to delegated governance. Dublin: IPA..
• Gwynn Morgan, David (8 March 2016). "What exactly is a caretaker taoiseach?". The Irish Times.

Biographies

Biographies are also available of de Valera, Lemass, Lynch, Cosgrave, FitzGerald, Haughey, Reynolds and Ahern. FitzGerald wrote an autobiography, while an authorised biography was produced of de Valera.

Some biographies and memoirs of former Taoisigh and presidents of the Executive Council:

• Tim Pat Coogan, Éamon de Valera
• John Horgan, Seán Lemass
• Brian Farrell, Seán Lemass
• T. P. O'Mahony, Jack Lynch: A Biography
• T. Ryle Dwyer, Nice Fellow: A Biography of Jack Lynch
• Stephen Collins, The Cosgrave Legacy
• Garret FitzGerald, All in a Life
• Garret FitzGerald, Just Garret: Tales from the Political Frontline
• Raymond Smith, Garret: The Enigma
• T. Ryle Dwyer, Short Fellow: A Biography of Charles Haughey
• Martin Mansergh, Spirit of the Nation: The Collected Speeches of Haughey
• Joe Joyce & Peter Murtagh The Boss: Charles Haughey in Government
• Tim Ryan, Albert Reynolds: The Longford Leader
• Albert Reynolds, My Autobiography
• Bertie Ahern, My Autobiography

See also

• Politics of the Republic of Ireland
• Records of Irish heads of government since 1922
• Irish heads of government since 1919

External links

• Official website