Editing Garret FitzGerald (section)

== Post-Taoiseach period ==
[[File:Garret FitzGerald Lisbon 2009 crop.jpg|thumb|upright|FitzGerald arriving for the [[Lisbon Treaty]] referendum count in 2009]]
FitzGerald retired as leader of Fine Gael immediately after the Dáil elected Haughey as Taoiseach;<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/queen-pays-tribute-to-former-taoiseach-garret-fitzgerald-16002334.html |title=Queen pays tribute to former Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald |work=Belfast Telegraph |date=20 May 2011 |access-date=21 May 2011 |archive-date=22 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522051224/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/queen-pays-tribute-to-former-taoiseach-garret-fitzgerald-16002334.html |url-status=live}}</ref> the parliamentary party [[1987 Fine Gael leadership election|elected Alan Dukes]] in his place. His autobiography {{citeref|FitzGerald|1991|''All in a Life''|style=plain}} appeared in 1991, immediately becoming a best-seller. He retired completely from politics at the [[1992 Irish general election|1992 general election]]. His wife, Joan, predeceased him in 1999 after a long illness.<ref>{{cite news |title=Joan FitzGerald |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/joan-fitzgerald-1.195486 |access-date=6 March 2021 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=Jun 14, 1999 |archive-date=11 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211211222435/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/joan-fitzgerald-1.195486 |url-status=live}}</ref>

After that, FitzGerald wrote a weekly column every Saturday in ''[[The Irish Times]]'' and lectured widely at home and abroad on public affairs.{{efn|In a [[leading article]] on FitzGerald's death, ''The Irish Times'' said that the "extraordinary Irishman who fashioned our future in so many ways" was their longest-serving contributor and columnist for over 57 years.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0520/1224297354007.htm |date=20 May 2011 |title=Garret FitzGerald |newspaper=The Irish Times}}{{dead link|date=May 2020}}</ref>}} He came out of retirement to campaign for a "yes" vote in the [[Twenty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|second Irish referendum]] on the EU's [[Treaty of Nice]], held in 2002. He held the post of Chancellor of the [[National University of Ireland]] from 1997 to 2009. In March 2000, FitzGerald was on the board of directors of ''Election.com'' when it conducted the world's first public election ever held over the Internet, [[2000 Arizona Democratic presidential primary|Arizona's Democratic primary]]; in that primary, voter turnout increased more than 500% over the 1996 primary.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/ |title=thefreelibrary.com |access-date=17 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422202145/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/ |archive-date=22 April 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=February 2021}}

FitzGerald took a leading part in the campaign for a [[Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|second referendum]] on the EU's [[Treaty of Lisbon]] in 2009. He argued for Ireland to continue with European integration. FitzGerald had been scathing of the record of the Fianna Fáil–led government since 1997 on the economy and the national finances. In his ''Irish Times'' column, he was a frequent critic of the loss of [[competitiveness]] and the inflation caused by the tax cuts and excessive public spending increases of the [[Celtic Tiger]] era. In 2009, FitzGerald received a new ministerial car, the first and only one to be purchased by the state since an [[Post-2008 Irish economic downturn|economic recession hit Ireland]] in 2008.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lally |first=Conor |title=State cars and Garda drivers cost almost €11m over past two years |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/1015/1224281155552.html |access-date=6 May 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=15 October 2010 |quote=In 2008 11 of the cars were changed at a cost to the exchequer of €510,000. However, since then and because of the recession, only one car has been bought, for former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald in 2009. |archive-date=22 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022153710/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/1015/1224281155552.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2010, FitzGerald appeared on RTÉ's "[[Ireland's Greatest|Top 40 Irishmen]]" list.

He was vice-president of the [[Railway Preservation Society of Ireland]] for his last 20 years.<ref>{{cite news |publisher=[[RPSI]] |title=Newsletter |date=July 2011}}</ref>