Taoiseach

Prime Minister of Ireland - Taoiseach
Prime Minister of Ireland - Taoiseach
	Incumbent; Simon Harris; since 9 April 2024
	Department of the Taoiseach
Style	Taoiseach; Irish: A Thaoisigh; The Right Honourable; (formal); His Excellency; (diplomatic);
Member of	Dáil Éireann; Cabinet; Council of State; European Council;
Reports to	Oireachtas
Residence	Steward's Lodge
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.
Inaugural holder	Éamon de Valera
Formation	29 December 1937
Deputy	Tánaiste
Salary	€207,590 annually
Website	taoiseach.gov.ie

The Taoiseach (/ˈtiːʃəx/ (listen)),^[2] also referred to as An Taoiseach ([ən t̪ˠiːʃʲəx]),^[3] is the head of the government in Ireland. The term prime minister is not used by the Irish media.^[4]

Appointment

When a new Dáil Éireann meets after an election it nominates one of its members to be Taoiseach. He then visits the President, and is appointed. He then presents a list of ministers to the Dáil and when this is approved they are also appointed by the President.

If the Taoiseach resigns all members of the government are said to have resigned as well. If a minister does not resign when asked by the Taoiseach, the Taoiseach can ask the President to sack the minister. The President cannot refuse to do this.^[5]

Department of the Taoiseach

The Department of the Taoiseach helps the Taoiseach to do his job. The main duty of the Taoiseach is to start policy and coordinate policy of the rest of government. Especially policies on Economic and Social Development, Northern Ireland, the European Union and Public Sector Change and Oireachtas Reform.

The Government Chief Whip, who has to make sure the government's policies and ideas are turned into law, is a part of the Taoiseach's department.

The current Taoiseach is Simon Harris since 9 April 2024.

List

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death) Constituency	Term of office		Party	Exec. Council Composition		Vice President		Dáil (elected)
President of the Executive Council [change \| change source]
1		W. T. Cosgrave (1880–1965) TD for Carlow–Kilkenny until 1927 TD for Cork Borough from 1927	6 December 1922^[a]	9 March 1932	Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty)	1st	SF (PT) (minority)		Kevin O'Higgins	3 (1922)
					Cumann na nGaedheal	2nd	CnG (minority)		Kevin O'Higgins	4 (1923)
						3rd			Ernest Blythe	5 (Jun.1927)
						4th				6 (Sep.1927)
						5th				6 (Sep.1927)
2		Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) TD for Clare	9 March 1932^[b]	29 December 1937	Fianna Fáil	6th	FF (minority)		Seán T. O'Kelly	7 (1932)
						7th				8 (1933)
						8th				9 (1937)
Taoiseach [change \| change source]
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	16 (1957)
						10th	FF (minority)		Seán MacEntee	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		Frank Aiken	18 (1965)
5			10 November 1966	14 March 1973	Fianna Fáil	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		George Colley	21 (1977)
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)
(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		Peter Barry	24 (Nov.1982)
(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		Brian Lenihan	26 (1989)
						21st	FF–PD		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		John Wilson
						23rd	FF–Lab FF (minority) from Nov 1994		Dick Spring	27 (1992)
						23rd	FF–Lab FF (minority) from Nov 1994		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		Mary Harney	29 (2002)
						26th	FF–PD		Michael McDowell	29 (2002)
						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	30 (2007)
13		Enda Kenny (b. 1951) TD for Mayo	9 March 2011	14 June 2017^[6]	Fine Gael	29th	FG–Lab		Eamon Gilmore	31 (2011)
						29th	FG–Lab		Joan Burton	31 (2011)
						30th	FG–Ind (minority)		Frances Fitzgerald	32 (2016)
14		Leo Varadkar (b. 1979) TD for Dublin West	14 June 2017^[7]	27 June 2020	Fine Gael	31st	FG–Ind (minority)		Frances Fitzgerald
14		Leo Varadkar (b. 1979) TD for Dublin West	14 June 2017^[7]	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		Micheál Martin

Notes

↑ Before the enactment of the 1937 Constitution of Ireland, the head of government was referred to as the President of the Executive Council. This office was first held by W. T. Cosgrave from 1922 to 1932, and then by Éamon de Valera from 1932 to 1937.

↑ Cosgrave was Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State from 22 August 1922, during the transitional period before the state became officially independent on 6 December 1922 (See Irish heads of government since 1919).
↑ De Valera was President of Dáil Éireann in the pre-independence revolutionary Irish Government from 1 April 1919 to 9 January 1922 (See Irish heads of government since 1919).

References

↑ Oireachtas, Houses of the. "Salaries, Houses of the Oireachtas". oireachtas.ie. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
↑ "Taoiseach: definition of Taoiseach in Oxford dictionary (British & World English). Meaning, pronunciation and origin of the word". Oxford Language Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. 2013. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
↑ Keeping the Irish definite article an /ən/ instead of English the.
↑ "BUNREACHT NA hÉIREANN". Article 28.5.1 The head of the Government, or Prime Minister, shall be called, and is in this Constitution referred to as, the Taoiseach.
↑ "BUNREACHT NA hÉIREANN". Article 28.9.4. The Taoiseach may at any time, for reasons which to him seem sufficient, request a member of the Government to resign; should the member concerned fail to comply with the request, his appointment shall be terminated by the President if the Taoiseach so advises.
↑ "Kenny's farewell: 'This has never been about me'". RTÉ News. 13 June 2017. Archived from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
↑ Lord, Miriam (8 June 2017). "Taoiseach-in-waiting meets man waiting to be taoiseach". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2017.

[Cosgrave-1] Before the enactment of the 1937 Constitution of Ireland, the head of government was referred to as the President of the Executive Council. This office was first held by W. T. Cosgrave from 1922 to 1932, and then by Éamon de Valera from 1932 to 1937.

[CosgravePreIndependence-7] Cosgrave was Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State from 22 August 1922, during the transitional period before the state became officially independent on 6 December 1922 (See Irish heads of government since 1919).

[DeValeraPreIndependence-8] De Valera was President of Dáil Éireann in the pre-independence revolutionary Irish Government from 1 April 1919 to 9 January 1922 (See Irish heads of government since 1919).

[2] Oireachtas, Houses of the. "Salaries, Houses of the Oireachtas". oireachtas.ie. Retrieved 2 November 2019.

[3] "Taoiseach: definition of Taoiseach in Oxford dictionary (British & World English). Meaning, pronunciation and origin of the word". Oxford Language Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. 2013. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2013.

[4] Keeping the Irish definite article an /ən/ instead of English the.

[5] "BUNREACHT NA hÉIREANN". Article 28.5.1 The head of the Government, or Prime Minister, shall be called, and is in this Constitution referred to as, the Taoiseach.

[6] "BUNREACHT NA hÉIREANN". Article 28.9.4. The Taoiseach may at any time, for reasons which to him seem sufficient, request a member of the Government to resign; should the member concerned fail to comply with the request, his appointment shall be terminated by the President if the Taoiseach so advises.

[9] "Kenny's farewell: 'This has never been about me'". RTÉ News. 13 June 2017. Archived from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2017.

[IrishTimes2017-06-08a-10] Lord, Miriam (8 June 2017). "Taoiseach-in-waiting meets man waiting to be taoiseach". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2017.

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