IRISH HEADS OF GOVERNMENT SINCE 1919

Contents

Republic of Ireland (and predecessor states)

Offices

List of office holders

Northern Ireland

Offices

List of office holders

Footnotes

See also

Republic of Ireland (and predecessor states)

The head of government, or prime minister, of the modern Republic of Ireland is known as the Taoiseach and heads a cabinet called the Government. However, since 1919, heads of government in the southern state have borne a number of titles. Under the short-lived Irish Republic of 1919–1922 the head of government was known first as the Príomh Aire or President of Dáil Éireann and later as the President of the Republic. Under the 1922–1937 Irish Free State the head of government was the President of the Executive Council. There also briefly existed, immediately before the creation of the Irish Free State, an interim office of Chairman of the Provisional Government. For a brief period in 1921 the offices of President of the Republic and Chairman of the Provisional Government existed simultaneously.

Offices

Head	Deputy	Cabinet	State	Constitution	Date
Priomh Aire[1]	''n/a''	Aireacht (or Ministry)	Irish Republic	Dáil Constitution	1919–Dec. 1922
Chairman	''n/a''	Provisional Government	Southern Ireland	Irish Free State (Agreement) Act, 1922	Jan–Dec. 1922
President	Vice President	Executive Council	Irish Free State	Constitution of the Irish Free State	Dec. 1922–1937
Taoiseach	Tánaiste	Government	Éire / Ireland	Constitution of Ireland	1937–''present''

List of office holders

#		Name	Entered Office	Left Office	Party
	1.	Cathal Brugha	21 January, 1919	1 April, 1919	Sinn Féin
	2.	Éamon de Valera (''1st time'')	1 April, 1919	9 January, 1922	Sinn Féin
	3.	Arthur Griffith[2]	10 January, 1922	12 August, 1922	Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty faction)
	4.	Michael Collins	16 January, 1922	22 August, 1922	Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty faction)
	5.	W. T. Cosgrave	22 August, 1922	9 March, 1932	Cumann na nGaedhael[3]
		Éamon de Valera (''2nd time'')	9 March, 1932	18 February, 1948	Fianna Fáil
	6.	John A. Costello (''1st time'')	18 February, 1948	13 June, 1951	Fine Gael
		Éamon de Valera (''3rd time'')	13 June, 1951	2 June, 1954	Fianna Fáil
		John A. Costello (''2nd time'')	2 June, 1954	20 March, 1957	Fine Gael
		Éamon de Valera (''4th time'')	20 March, 1957	23 June, 1959	Fianna Fáil
	7.	Seán Lemass	23 June, 1959	10 November, 1966	Fianna Fáil
	8.	Jack Lynch (''1st time'')	10 November, 1966	14 March, 1973	Fianna Fáil
	9.	Liam Cosgrave	14 March, 1973	5 July, 1977	Fine Gael
		Jack Lynch (''2nd time'')	5 July, 1977	11 December, 1979	Fianna Fáil
	10.	Charles Haughey (''1st time'')	11 December, 1979	30 June, 1981	Fianna Fáil
	11.	Garret FitzGerald (''1st time'')	30 June, 1981	9 March, 1982	Fine Gael
		Charles Haughey (''2nd time'')	9 March, 1982	14 December, 1982	Fianna Fáil
		Garret FitzGerald (''2nd time'')	14 December, 1982	10 March, 1987	Fine Gael
		Charles Haughey (''3rd time'')	10 March, 1987	11 February, 1992	Fianna Fáil
	12.	Albert Reynolds	11 February, 1992	15 December, 1994	Fianna Fáil
	13.	John Bruton	15 December, 1994	26 June, 1997	Fine Gael
	14.	Bertie Ahern	26 June, 1997	''Incumbent''	Fianna Fáil

Northern Ireland

The most recent devolved cabinet in Northern Ireland is the Northern Ireland Executive, established under the Belfast Agreement. The Executive has been in operation, intermittently, since 1999, but is currently in suspension. Since 1921, there have been three different prime ministerial offices in Northern Ireland.

Offices

Office	Cabinet	Date
Prime Minister	Government	1921–1971
Chief Executive	Executive (Sunningdale)	1973–1974
First Minister	Executive	1999–''present''

List of office holders

#		Name	Entered Office	Left Office	Party
	1.	Sir James Craig	7 June, 1921	24 November, 1940	Ulster Unionist Party
	2.	John Miller Andrews	25 November, 1940	1 May, 1943	Ulster Unionist Party
	3.	Sir Basil Brooke	1 May, 1943	25 March, 1963	Ulster Unionist Party
	4.	Terence O'Neill	25 March, 1963	1 May, 1969	Ulster Unionist Party
	5.	James Chichester-Clark	1 May, 1969	23 March, 1971	Ulster Unionist Party
	6.	Brian Faulkner ''(1st time)''	23 March, 1971	30 March, 1972	Ulster Unionist Party
		Brian Faulkner ''(2nd time)''	1973	1974	Ulster Unionist Party
	7.	David Trimble	1 July, 1998	14 October, 2002	Ulster Unionist Party
	8.	Ian Paisley	8 May, 2007	''Incumbent''	Democratic Unionist Party

Footnotes

1. The ''Priomh Áire'', also known as ''President of Dáil Éireann'', was upgraded to a head of state-level ''President of the Irish Republic'' in August 1921.
2. From January to August 1922 there were two administrations operating in parallel, the Provisional Government and the Ministry of the Irish Republic, and each cabinet had an overlapping membership. Thus, during this time, there were two heads of government, Arthur Griffith, as President of the Republic, and Michael Collins as Chairman of the Provisional Government of Southern Ireland. This anomalous situation came about because the British Government would only recognise the parliament that it had established through the Government of Ireland Act, so Sinn Féin participated in the charade to move matters along. The dual leadership came to an end when W. T. Cosgrave assumed both offices on the deaths of Griffith, on the 12 August, 1922, and Collins, on 22 August, and merged the two parallel administrations.
3. When W. T. Cosgrave first became head of government he was still technically a member of Sinn Féin. However the pro-Treaty faction of Sinn Féin reformed itself as Cumann na nGaedhael shortly afterwards.

See also

★ President of Ireland

★ Irish cabinets since 1919

★ History of the Republic of Ireland

★ History of Northern Ireland

★ Politics of the Republic of Ireland