Editing Jack Lynch (section)

===Party discipline===
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The year 1978 saw the first open revolt in party discipline. There was an open mutiny by many backbenchers when the Minister for Finance, [[George Colley]], attempted to impose a 2% levy on farmers. Although the levy was widely popular with the electorate, Colley was forced into a humiliating climbdown at the behest of the backbenchers and the authority of the government was shaken – particularly when the levy withdrawal was met with mass protests.

Charles Haughey, the [[Minister for Health (Ireland)|Minister for Health]], proposed the [[Health (Family Planning) Act 1979|Health (Family Planning) Bill 1979]], which provided for the availability of contraception with a prescription. [[Jim Gibbons (Irish politician)|Jim Gibbons]], the [[Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine|Minister for Agriculture]], who was a devout Catholic and had a deep hatred of Haughey, failed to attend and vote for this legislation. It was the only time when a TD, let alone a cabinet Minister, was allowed to flout the party whip in Fianna Fáil and damaged Lynch's authority when he failed to dismiss the minister from the government and expel him from the parliamentary party. As well as this, a group of backbench TDs began to lobby other TDs in support of Charles Haughey, should a leadership election arise. This group, known as the "gang of five," consisted of [[Jackie Fahey]], [[Tom McEllistrim (1926–2000)|Tom McEllistrim]], [[Seán Doherty (Roscommon politician)|Seán Doherty]], [[Mark Killilea Jnr|Mark Killilea]] and [[Albert Reynolds]].