Liberalism in the Republic of Ireland

Part of a series on
Liberalism
History Age of Enlightenment List of liberal theorists (contributions to liberal theory)
Ideas Civil and political rights Cultural liberalism Democracy Democratic capitalism Economic freedom Economic liberalism Egalitarianism Free market Free trade Freedom of the press Freedom of religion Freedom of speech Gender equality Harm principle Internationalism Laissez-faire Liberty Market economy Natural and legal rights Negative/positive liberty Non-aggression Principle Open society Permissive society Private property Rule of law Secularism Separation of church and state Social contract Welfare state
Schools of thought Anarcho-capitalism Classical liberalism Radical liberalism Left-libertarianism Geolibertarianism Right-libertarianism Conservative liberalism Democratic liberalism Green liberalism Liberal autocracy Liberal Catholicism Liberal conservatism Liberal feminism Equity feminism Liberal internationalism Liberal nationalism Liberal socialism Social democracy Muscular liberalism Neoliberalism National liberalism Ordoliberalism Radical centrism Religious liberalism Christian Islamic Jewish Secular liberalism Social liberalism Technoliberalism Third Way Whiggism
People Acton Alain Alberdi Alembert Arnold Aron Barante Bastiat Bentham Berlin Beveridge Bobbio Brentano Bright Broglie Burke Čapek Cassirer Chicherin Chu Chydenius Clinton Cobden Collingdood Condorcet Constant Croce Cuoco Dahrendorf Decy Dewey Dickens Diderot Dongsun Dunoyer Dworkin Einaudi Emerson Eötvös Flach Friedman Galbraith Garrison George Gladstone Gobetti Gomes Gray Green Gu Guizot Hayek Herbert Hobbes Hobhouse Hobson Holbach Hu Humboldt Jefferson Jubani Kant Kelsen Kemal Keynes Korais Korwin-Mikke Kymlicka Lamartine Larra Lecky Li Lincoln Locke Lufti Macaulay Madariaga Madison Martineau Masani Michelet Mill (father) Mill (son) Milton Mises Molteno Mommsen Money Montalembert Montesquieu Mora Mouffe Naoroji Naumann Nozick Nussbaum Obama Ohlin Ortega Paine Paton Popper Price Priestley Prieto Quesnay Qin Ramírez Rathenau Rawls Raz Renan Renouvier Ricardo Röpke Rorthy Rosmini Rosselli Rousseau Ruggiero Sarmiento Say Sen Earl of Shaftesbury Shklar Sidney Sieyès Şinasi Sismondi Smith Soto Polar Spencer Spinoza Staël Sumner Tahtawi Tao Thierry Thorbecke Thoreau Tocqueville Tracy Troeltsch Turgot Villemain Voltaire Ward Weber Wollstonecraft Zambrano
Organizations Africa Liberal Network Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party Arab Liberal Federation Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats European Democratic Party European Liberal Youth European Party for Individual Liberty International Alliance of Libertarian Parties International Federation of Liberal Youth Liberal International Liberal Network for Latin America Liberal parties Liberal South East European Network
Regional variants Europe Latin America Albania Armenia Australia Austria Belgium Bolivia Brazil Bulgaria Canada China Chile Colombia Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech lands Denmark Ecuador Egypt Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Iran Israel Italy Japan Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Mexico Moldova Montenegro Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Nigeria Norway Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Romania Russia Senegal Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain South Africa South Korea Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Tunisia Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom United States Classical Modern Uruguay Venezuela Zimbabwe
Related topics Bias in academia Bias in the media

This article gives an overview of liberalism in the Republic of Ireland. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in the Oireachtas (parliament) or in local government.

Liberal parties

The two dominant political parties in Ireland are Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. Both parties are historically seen as conservative, but in recent years they have adopted more liberal agendas. Today, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are seen as centre-right parties.

General election results for Fine Gael

Election	Seats won	±	Position	First Pref votes	%	Government	Leader
1937	48 / 138	11	2nd	461,171	34.8%	Opposition	W. T. Cosgrave
1938	45 / 138	3	2nd	428,633	33.3%	Opposition	W. T. Cosgrave
1943	32 / 138	12	2nd	307,490	23.1%	Opposition	W. T. Cosgrave
1944	30 / 138	2	2nd	249,329	20.5%	Opposition	Richard Mulcahy
1948	31 / 147	1	2nd	262,393	19.8%	Coalition (FG-LP-CnP-CnT-NLP)	Richard Mulcahy
1951	40 / 147	9	2nd	349,922	27.2%	Opposition	Richard Mulcahy
1954	50 / 147	10	2nd	427,031	32.0%	Coalition (FG-LP-CnT)	Richard Mulcahy
1957	40 / 147	10	2nd	326,699	26.6%	Opposition	Richard Mulcahy
1961	47 / 144	7	2nd	374,099	32.0%	Opposition	James Dillon
1965	47 / 144		2nd	427,081	34.1%	Opposition	James Dillon
1969	50 / 144	3	2nd	449,749	34.1%	Opposition	Liam Cosgrave
1973	54 / 144	4	2nd	473,781	35.1%	Coalition (FG-LP)	Liam Cosgrave
1977	43 / 148	11	2nd	488,767	30.5%	Opposition	Liam Cosgrave
1981	65 / 166	22	2nd	626,376	36.5%	Coalition (FG-LP)	Garret FitzGerald
1982 (Feb)	63 / 166	2	2nd	621,088	37.3%	Opposition	Garret FitzGerald
1982 (Nov)	70 / 166	7	2nd	662,284	39.2%	Coalition (FG-LP)	Garret FitzGerald
1987	51 / 166	19	2nd	481,127	27.1%	Opposition	Garret FitzGerald
1989	55 / 166	4	2nd	485,307	29.3%	Opposition	Alan Dukes
1992	45 / 166	10	2nd	422,106	24.5%	Opposition	John Bruton
						Coalition (FG-LP-DL) (from December 1994)
1997	54 / 166	9	2nd	499,936	27.9%	Opposition	John Bruton
2002	31 / 166	23	2nd	417,619	22.5%	Opposition	Michael Noonan
2007	51 / 166	20	2nd	564,428	27.3%	Opposition	Enda Kenny
2011	76 / 166	25	1st	801,628	36.1%	Coalition (FG-LP)	Enda Kenny
2016	50 / 158	26	1st	544,410	25.5%	Minority government (supported by Fianna Fáil)	Enda Kenny

General election results for Fianna Fáil

Election	Seats won	±	Position	First Pref votes	%	Government	Leader
1927 (Jun)	44 / 153	44	2nd	299,486	26.2%	Opposition	Éamon de Valera
1927 (Sep)	57 / 153	13	2nd	411,777	35.2%	Opposition	Éamon de Valera
1932	72 / 153	15	1st	566,498	44.5%	Minority gov't (supported by LP)	Éamon de Valera
1933	77 / 153	5	1st	689,054	49.7%	Minority gov't (supported by LP)	Éamon de Valera
1937	69 / 138	8	1st	599,040	45.2%	Minority gov't (supported by LP)	Éamon de Valera
1938	77 / 138	8	1st	667,996	51.9%	Majority gov't	Éamon de Valera
1943	67 / 138	10	1st	557,525	41.9%	Minority gov't	Éamon de Valera
1944	76 / 138	9	1st	595,259	48.9%	Majority gov't	Éamon de Valera
1948	68 / 147	8	1st	553,914	41.9%	Opposition	Éamon de Valera
1951	69 / 147	1	1st	616,212	46.3%	Minority gov't (supported by Ind)	Éamon de Valera
1954	65 / 147	4	1st	578,960	43.4%	Opposition	Éamon de Valera
1957	78 / 147	13	1st	592,994	48.3%	Majority gov't	Éamon de Valera
1961	70 / 144	8	1st	512,073	43.8%	Minority gov't (supported by Ind)	Seán Lemass
1965	72 / 144	2	1st	597,414	47.7%	Majority gov't	Seán Lemass
1969	75 / 144	3	1st	602,234	45.7%	Majority gov't	Jack Lynch
1973	69 / 144	6	1st	624,528	46.2%	Opposition	Jack Lynch
1977	84 / 148	15	1st	811,615	50.6%	Majority gov't	Jack Lynch
1981	78 / 166	6	1st	777,616	45.3%	Opposition	Charles Haughey
1982 (Feb)	81 / 166	3	1st	786,951	47.3%	Minority gov't (supported by SFTWP and Ind)	Charles Haughey
1982 (Nov)	75 / 166	6	1st	763,313	45.2%	Opposition	Charles Haughey
1987	81 / 166	6	1st	784,547	44.1%	Minority gov't (supported by Ind)	Charles Haughey
1989	77 / 166	4	1st	731,472	44.1%	Coalition (FF-PD)	Charles Haughey
1992	68 / 166	9	1st	674,650	39.1%	Coalition (FF-LP)	Albert Reynolds
						Opposition (from December 1994)
1997	77 / 166	9	1st	703,682	39.3%	Coalition (FF-PD)	Bertie Ahern
2002	81 / 166	4	1st	770,748	41.5%	Coalition (FF-PD)	Bertie Ahern
2007	77 / 166	4	1st	858,565	41.6%	Coalition (FF-GP-PD)	Bertie Ahern
2011	20 / 166	57	3rd	387,358	17.5%	Opposition	Micheál Martin
2016	44 / 158	23	2nd	519,356	24.3%	Opposition (supporting a minority FG gov't)	Micheál Martin

Notes

This article "Liberalism in the Republic of Ireland" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

📰 Article(s) of the same category(ies)

• Liberalism and centrism in Iceland
• Mwanandeke Kindembo
• Liberalism in Thailand

---