Editing Liam Cosgrave (section)

==Political career==
===Political beginnings===
[[File:Liam Cosgrave and Dockrell 1948 election pamphlet.jpg|left|thumb|200px|A pamphlet from the 1948 Irish general election promoting Cosgrave]]
To the surprise of his family, Liam sought election to [[Dáil Éireann]] in the [[1943 Irish general election|1943 general election]] and was elected as a [[Teachta Dála|TD]] for [[Dublin County (Dáil constituency)|Dublin County]] at the age of 23,<ref name=elecs_irl>{{cite news|url=http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=6544|title=Liam Cosgrave|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=26 May 2010|archive-date=21 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221164315/http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=6544|url-status=live}}</ref> sitting in the [[11th Dáil]] alongside his father [[W. T. Cosgrave]] who was one of the founders of the [[Irish Free State]] in the 1920s. Cosgrave rapidly rose through the ranks of Fine Gael, and was regarded as being by far the most able and active of Fine Gael's newer TDs. His election in 1943 occurred during a long period when his party was in opposition, from 1932 to 1948.

Cosgrave wrote to the Party Leader, [[Richard Mulcahy]], in May 1947, on the poor attendance in the Dáil, and informed his leader that "I cannot any longer conscientiously ask the public to support the party as a party, and in the circumstances I do not propose to speak at meetings outside my constituency." Nevertheless, when the [[5th government of Ireland|First Inter-Party government]] was formed after the [[1948 Irish general election|1948 general election]], [[Taoiseach]] [[John A. Costello]] nominated Cosgrave for appointment by the government as [[Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach|Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach]] and Chief Whip and as [[Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment|Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Commerce]] on 24 February 1948.<ref name=mapp>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1948-02-25/13/|title=Appointment of Members of Government and Parliamentary Secretaries – Dáil Éireann (13th Dáil) – Wednesday, 25 February 1948|access-date=29 April 2021|website=Houses of the Oireachtas|date=25 February 1948|archive-date=8 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108142206/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1948-02-25/13/|url-status=live}}</ref> He served in these positions until the dissolution of the Dáil on 7 May 1951.

===Minister===
After the [[1954 Irish general election|1954 general election]], a [[7th government of Ireland|Second Inter-Party government]] was formed on 2 June 1954, led again by John A. Costello. Cosgrave, at the age of 34, was appointed to the position of [[Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade|Minister for External Affairs]]. Cosgrave took part in trade discussions and chaired the [[Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe]] in 1955. He also presided over Ireland's admission to the United Nations in 1955. Cosgrave outlined the three principles of his foreign policy to the Dáil in June 1956: adherence to the principles of the [[Charter of the United Nations|UN Charter]], independence and non-alignment, and "to do whatever we can as a member of the UN to preserve the Christian civilisation of which we are a part and with that end in view to support whenever possible those powers principally responsible for the defence of the free world in their resistance to the spread of communist power and influence". Ireland was non-aligned in favour of the [[United States]]. The second Inter-Party government collapsed amid severely deflationary policies set by the Minister for Finance, [[Gerard Sweetman]]. Cosgrave held Sweetman personally responsible for Fine Gael's defeat at the [[1957 Irish general election|1957 general election]], and told him so, reportedly stating that Fine Gael "was no longer led by people living in big houses at the end of long avenues." He did not speak to Sweetman for some years.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

===Opposition===
Cosgrave remained active in opposition. He privately supported Fianna Fáil's [[Third Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1958|referendum to abolish the system of proportional representation]] in June 1959, which was defeated.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GXV-HFnk_9wC&dq=liam+cosgrave+proportional+representation&pg=PA81|title=Referendums Around the World: The Growing Use of Direct Democracy|first=Austin|last=Ranney|date=2 December 1994|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|isbn=9780844738536|via=Google Books|access-date=2 December 2021|archive-date=2 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202012612/https://books.google.com/books?id=GXV-HFnk_9wC&pg=PA81&lpg=PA81&dq=liam+cosgrave+proportional+representation&source=bl&ots=JHJlbja7hU&sig=ACfU3U2A7JbiJhRxsszumEVvEq0bX-E7dA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjG2-7y-cP0AhXXjIkEHaNDB0oQ6AF6BAgTEAM#v=onepage&q=liam+cosgrave+proportional+representation&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> This opposition was to count against him later that year in the leadership contest. In October 1959, the dual leadership of Fine Gael, Mulcahy and Costello, stood down. Costello wanted to continue his practice as a [[senior counsel]] as well as being a leader. He had asked Cosgrave to be his "managing director" in the Dáil while he was absent on legal work, which had declined to do.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Jody |last=Corcoran |url=https://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/cosgraves-death-is-a-reminder-cut-any-of-us-and-we-bleed-fine-gael-or-fianna-fail-36206688.html |date=25 October 2017 |title=Cosgrave's death is a reminder: cut any of us and we bleed Fine Gael or Fianna Fail |newspaper=[[Irish Independent]] |access-date=2 December 2021 |archive-date=2 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202024552/https://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/cosgraves-death-is-a-reminder-cut-any-of-us-and-we-bleed-fine-gael-or-fianna-fail-36206688.html |url-status=live }}</ref> James Dillon and Cosgrave contested the leadership with Dillon decisively being elected as leader. With Fine Gael in opposition during the 1960s, an internal struggle for the policy direction of the party was beginning. A large body of members called on Fine Gael to move decisively towards social democracy. A set of eight principles known as the ''Just Society'' was put forward to the party leadership by [[Declan Costello]], the son of John A. Costello. The principles called for higher state spending on health and social welfare with a greater state role in the economy. Despite his conservative credentials, Cosgrave adopted a somewhat positive attitude to the Just Society document. Fianna Fáil went on to win the [[1965 Irish general election|1965 general election]] and Fine Gael remained in opposition.

===Fine Gael leader===
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2022}} 
In 1965, when [[James Dillon (Fine Gael politician)|James Dillon]] resigned as leader of Fine Gael after the [[1965 Irish general election|1965 general election]] loss, Liam Cosgrave easily won the leadership. He led his party to defeat in the [[1969 Irish general election|1969 election]] and was under constant threat and challenge by younger more social democratic elements represented by [[Garret FitzGerald]] who was elected to the Dáil in 1969. Cosgrave's erstwhile opponent, Declan Costello, had retired in 1969. Cosgrave's fortunes changed in 1970. He played a key role in the [[Arms Crisis]], when, as Leader of the Opposition, he pressured then [[Fianna Fáil]] leader and Taoiseach, [[Jack Lynch]], to take action against senior ministers who were involved in importing arms intended for the [[Provisional IRA]]. The information had been leaked to him by the [[Special Detective Unit|Garda Special Branch]], who had already informed the Taoiseach.

Cosgrave's determination to support government anti-terrorist legislation in votes in the Dáil, in the face of opposition from his party, almost cost him his leadership. The growing liberal wing of Fine Gael was opposing the Government's stringent laws on civil liberty grounds. Cosgrave put the security of the State and its institutions first. At the Fine Gael Ard Fheis in May 1972, Cosgrave faced down his political opponents. In a speech littered with references to Fine Gael's founding fathers, he contrasted the difficulties posed by the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|IRA]] in [[Northern Ireland]] with those faced by the first Free State government in dealing with the anti-treatyites. Departing from his script, Cosgrave rounded on his leadership rivals. Asking delegates if they did any hunting Cosgrave declared that "… some of these commentators and critics are now like mongrel foxes; they are gone to ground but I'll dig them out, and the pack will chop them when they get them". Though he was criticised for taking a "partionist" or unionist stance in his speech, Cosgrave led Fine Gael to office a year later. Cosgrave supported the government's Offences Against the State (Amendment) Bill in November 1972, despite the position taken by Fine Gael to oppose the Bill.