The
Taoiseach ( ; ), plural Taoisigh ( or ),
also referred to as An Taoiseach ( ), is the
head of government of Ireland
.
The Taoiseach is appointed by the
President upon the nomination of
Dáil Éireann (the lower house
of the
Oireachtas), and must, while he
remains in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.
The role of Taoiseach is that of a
prime
minister.
The current Taoiseach is
Brian Cowen,
TD, leader of the
Fianna Fáil party.
Overview
Under the
Constitution of
Ireland the Taoiseach must be appointed from among the members
of Dáil Éireann. In the event that the Taoiseach loses the support
of a majority in Dáil Éireann, he is not automatically removed from
office but, rather, is compelled
either to resign
or to persuade the President to dissolve the Dáil. The
President may refuse to grant a dissolution, and, in effect, force
the Taoiseach to resign, but, to date, no president has exercised
this prerogative (though the option arose in 1944, twice in 1982
and would have arisen in 1994 had Albert Reynolds chosen, following
his Dáil defeat, to seek a dissolution rather than resign ). The
Taoiseach may lose the support of Dáil Éireann by the passage of a
vote of no confidence, the
failure of a vote of confidence or, alternatively, the Dáil may
refuse
supply. In the event
of the Taoiseach's resignation, he continues to exercise the duties
and functions of his 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 also
has authority to have fellow members of the cabinet dismissed from
office. He or she is further responsible for appointing eleven
members of the
Senate.
Salary
The Taoiseach's salary is somewhat higher than for leaders in many
other countries: €257,024 annually, compared to £187,000 (about
€202,000) for the
British Prime Minister
and €231,000 for the
President of
France. In October 2007, the Taoiseach was the highest-paid
head of government in the
OECD countries.
However, the remuneration structures for
Government of Ireland employees mean
that comparison with other countries are not useful and are
discouraged by the
Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the
Public Sector. 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. The Taoiseach is also allowed an additional €118,981
in annual expenses.
Residence
In 2008 it
was reported that the former Steward's Lodge at Farmleigh
adjoining the Phoenix Park
would become the official residence of the
Taoiseach
. The house, which forms part of the
Farmleigh estate acquired by the State in 1999 for €29.2m, 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, however the current Taoiseach Brian Cowen, uses it
"from time to time".
History
Origins and etymology
The words
Taoiseach and
Tánaiste (the title of the 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". Some historians suggest that in
ancient Ireland (where these terms
originate), a
taoiseach was a minor king, while a
tánaiste was a governor placed in a kingdom whose king had
been deposed or, more usually, his heir-apparent. In
Scottish Gaelic,
tòiseach
translates as
clan chief and both
words originally had similar meaning in the
Gaelic languages of Scotland and Ireland.
The related
Welsh language word
tywysog (current meaning "prince"
from
tywys, "to lead") appears to have had a similar
meaning.
Modern office
The modern position of Taoiseach was established by the 1937
Constitution of Ireland, to
replace 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 cabinet's presiding officer. For example,
the President of the Executive Council could not dismiss a fellow
minister. The Free State's cabinet, the
Executive Council,
had to be disbanded and reformed entirely, in order to remove one
of its number. The President of the Executive Council could also
not personally seek a dissolution of Dáil Éireann from the head of
state, that power belonging collectively to the Executive Council.
In contrast, the Taoiseach created in 1937 possesses a much more
powerful role. He can both instruct the President to dismiss
ministers, and request a parliamentary dissolution on his own
initiative.
Historically, where there have been multi-party or coalition
governments, the Taoiseach has come from the leader of the largest
party in the coalition. One exception to this was
John A. Costello, who was not 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.
List of office holders
Main articles: List of Irish heads of
government since 1919, List of Taoisigh by
important facts
Before the enactment of the
1937
Constitution, the head of government was referred to as the
President
of the Executive Council. This office was first held by
W. T.
Cosgrave of
Cumann na nGaedhael from 1922–32, and
then by
Éamon de Valera from
1932–37. By convention Taoisigh are numbered to include Cosgrave,
for example Brian Cowen is considered the 12th Taoiseach not the
11th.
President of the Executive Council
Taoiseach
Living former Taoisigh
See also
References and notes
- Oxford English Dictionary
- Retaining the Irish definite article an instead of
English the.
- One example of the Dáil refusing supply occurred in January
1982 when the then Fine
Gael – Labour Party coalition government of
Garret
FitzGerald lost a vote on the budget. [1]
- Article 13.1.1° and Article 28.5.1° of the Constitution of Ireland. The latter
provision reads: "The head of the Government, or Prime Minister,
shall be called, and is in this Constitution referred to as, the
Taoiseach." [2]
- Among the most famous ministerial dismissals have been those of
Charles
Haughey and Neil
Blaney during the Arms Crisis in 1970, Brian Lenihan
in 1990 and Albert Reynolds, Pádraig Flynn and
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn in
1991.
Further reading
The book
Chairman or Chief: The Role of the Taoiseach in Irish
Government (1971) by
Brian
Farrell provides a good overview of the conflicting roles for
the Taoiseach. Though long out of print, it may still be available
in libraries or from AbeBooks. 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 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
- 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
External links
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