Leader of the Opposition (Ireland)
parliamentary position of the Irish Parliament, Dáil Éireann From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
parliamentary position of the Irish Parliament, Dáil Éireann From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Leader of the Opposition (Irish: Ceannaire an Fhreasúra) in Ireland is the politician who, de facto, leads the Parliamentary Opposition in the lower house of the Irish Parliament, Dáil Éireann.
Leader of the Opposition
Ceannaire an Fhreasúra | |
---|---|
Term length | While leader of the largest political party not in government |
Inaugural holder | Thomas Johnson |
Formation | 6 December 1922 |
When in the Dáil, the Leader of the Opposition sits on the right-hand side of the Ceann Comhairle and directly opposite of the Taoiseach.
To date there have been 17 Opposition Leaders, 9 of whom have been Taoiseach. The current Leader of the Opposition is Mary Lou McDonald TD of the Sinn Féin party since June 2020.
No. | Name (Birth–Death) |
Portrait | Constituency | Term of office | Party | Taoiseach[nb 1] | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
From | To | ||||||||
1. | Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) |
![]() |
Clare | 9 January 1922 | 8 June 1922 | Sinn Féin (Anti-Treaty) | Arthur Griffith (1922) | ||
2. | Thomas Johnson (1872–1963) |
![]() |
Dublin County | 9 September 1922 | 11 August 1927 | Labour Party | W. T. Cosgrave (1922–32) | ||
(1) | Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) |
![]() |
Clare | 11 August 1927 | 9 March 1932 | Fianna Fáil | |||
3. | W. T. Cosgrave (1880–1965) |
![]() |
Cork Borough | 9 March 1932 | January 1944 | Cumann na nGaedheal | Éamon de Valera (1932–48) | ||
Fine Gael | |||||||||
4. | Thomas F. O'Higgins (1890–1953) |
![]() |
Leix–Offaly | January 1944 | 9 June 1944 | ||||
5. | Richard Mulcahy (1886–1971) |
![]() |
Tipperary | 9 June 1944 | 18 February 1948 | ||||
(1) | Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) |
![]() |
Clare | 18 February 1948 | 13 June 1951 | Fianna Fáil | John A. Costello (1948–51) | ||
6. | John A. Costello (1891–1976) |
![]() |
Dublin South-East | 13 June 1951 | 2 June 1954 | Fine Gael | Éamon de Valera (1951–54) | ||
(1) | Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) |
![]() |
Clare | 2 June 1954 | 20 March 1957 | Fianna Fáil | John A. Costello (1954–57) | ||
(6) | John A. Costello (1891–1976) |
![]() |
Dublin South-East | 20 March 1957 | 21 October 1959 | Fine Gael | Éamon de Valera (1957–59) | ||
Seán Lemass (1959–66) | |||||||||
7. | James Dillon (1902–1986) |
![]() |
Monaghan | 21 October 1959 | 21 April 1965 | ||||
8. | Liam Cosgrave (1920-2017) |
![]() |
Dún Laoghaire and Rathdown | 21 April 1965 | 14 March 1973 | ||||
Jack Lynch (1966–73) | |||||||||
9. | Jack Lynch (1917–1999) |
![]() |
Cork City North-West | 14 March 1973 | 5 July 1977 | Fianna Fáil | Liam Cosgrave (1973–77) | ||
10. | Garret FitzGerald (1926–2011) |
![]() |
Dublin South-East | 5 July 1977 | 30 June 1981 | Fine Gael | Jack Lynch (1977–79) | ||
Charles Haughey (1979–81) | |||||||||
11. | Charles Haughey (1925–2006) |
![]() |
Dublin North-Central | 30 June 1981 | 9 March 1982 | Fianna Fáil | Garret FitzGerald (1981–82) | ||
(10) | Garret FitzGerald (1926–2011) |
![]() |
Dublin South-East | 9 March 1982 | 14 December 1982 | Fine Gael | Charles Haughey (1982) | ||
(11) | Charles Haughey (1925–2006) |
![]() |
Dublin North-Central | 14 December 1982 | 10 March 1987 | Fianna Fáil | Garret FitzGerald (1982–87) | ||
12. | Alan Dukes (born 1945) |
![]() |
Kildare | 10 March 1987 | 20 November 1990 | Fine Gael | Charles Haughey (1987–92) | ||
13. | John Bruton (born 1947) |
![]() |
Meath | 20 November 1990 | 15 December 1994 | ||||
Albert Reynolds (1992–94) | |||||||||
14. | Bertie Ahern (born 1951) |
![]() |
Dublin Central | 15 December 1994 | 26 June 1997 | Fianna Fáil | John Bruton (1994–97) | ||
(13) | John Bruton (born 1947) |
![]() |
Meath | 26 June 1997 | 9 February 2001 | Fine Gael | Bertie Ahern (1997–2008) | ||
15. | Michael Noonan (born 1943) |
![]() |
Limerick East | 9 February 2001 | 6 June 2002 | ||||
16. | Enda Kenny (born 1951) |
![]() |
Mayo | 6 June 2002 | 9 March 2011 | ||||
Brian Cowen (2008–11) | |||||||||
17. | Micheál Martin (born 1960) |
![]() |
Cork South-Central | 9 March 2011 | 27 June 2020 | Fianna Fáil | Enda Kenny (2011–2017) | ||
Leo Varadkar (2017–2020) | |||||||||
18. | Mary Lou McDonald (born 1969) |
![]() |
Dublin Central | 27 June 2020 | Incumbent | Sinn Féin | Micheál Martin (2020–present) |
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.