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Irish political party / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fianna Fáil (/fiˌænə ˈfɔɪl, ˌfiːənə -/ feena FALL or FOYLE,[5][6] Irish: [ˌfʲiən̪ˠə ˈfˠaːlʲ] ⓘ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'),[7] officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party[8][9] (Irish: Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach),[10] is one of the main political parties in Ireland, alongside its primary rival since the 1930s, Fine Gael, and since 2011, Sinn Féin. Fianna Fáil is currently the senior partner in Ireland’s government coalition, along with Fine Gael and the Green Party, having won the 2020 general election with the most seats in Dáil Éireann. Historically described as a broad church and a classic catch-all party, Fianna Fáil has often defined itself as such, with enduring ideological commitments to Irish republicanism and reunification, Irish nationalism, and pro-Europeanism. The party currently has 36 Teachtaí Dála, 21 Seanadóirí, two Members of the European Parliament, and approximately 275 city and county councillors. Five Presidents of Ireland have been Fianna Fáil candidates, the most out of any other party (the Labour Party coming in second with two).
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Fianna Fáil was founded in 1926 by Éamon de Valera and his supporters following the Irish Civil War, over splits in the original Sinn Féin movement around the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty’s Oath of Allegiance to the British Crown and the partition of Ireland. Since 1932, it was one of the two dominant political parties in the Irish Free State, along with Cumann na nGaedheal which later formed into Fine Gael. For much of the following eighty years, Fianna Fáil dominated political life; de Valera served three terms as Taoiseach and played a significant role in laying the constitutional groundwork for Ireland to declare itself as an independent republic from the British Commonwealth in 1949. Historically averse to power-sharing, the party reversed this long-standing policy after the 1989 general election and has since led coalitions of the centre-left (with Labour, 1992–1994; and the Greens, 2007–2011) and the centre-right (with the Progressive Democrats, 1989–1992; 1997–2002; 2002–2007). Every consecutive Fianna Fáil leader has served as Taoiseach, and it remains the party with the most cumulative years of governmental experience in the modern Irish State.
In the 2011 general election the party's vote share collapsed and emerged in third place, in what was widely seen as a major realignment in the wake of the Great Recession in Ireland. By 2016 it had recovered enough to become the main opposition party and entered into a confidence and supply agreement with a Fine Gael-led minority government. In 2020, after a protracted stalemate following the general election, Fianna Fáil agreed with Fine Gael and the Green Party to enter an unprecedented coalition, with the leaders of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael rotating between the position of Taoiseach and Tánaiste. Micheál Martin has led the party since 2011 and currently serves as Taoiseach, with an additional six Fianna Fáil Ministers holding various Cabinet portfolios.
Fianna Fáil is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ADLE) and sits with the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament. It has been a full member of Liberal International since 2009. The party is also organised in Northern Ireland and has a working relationship with the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), but it has not yet agreed to formally contest elections there. As of July 2021, it has an estimated 20,000 full members.