Editing Garret FitzGerald (section)

== Minister for Foreign Affairs (1973–1977) ==
[[File:US Pres Ford & Taoiseach Cosgrave-Patricks Day 1976 .jpg|thumb|alt=photograph|upright=1.2|FitzGerald ({{abbr|l–r|left–right}}) with Taoiseach [[Liam Cosgrave]], US president [[Gerald Ford]] and US secretary of state [[Henry Kissinger]] in the [[Oval Office]] on [[St Patrick's Day]], 1976]]
After the [[1973 Irish general election|1973 general election]], Fine Gael entered office in [[Government of the 20th Dáil|a coalition government]] with the [[Labour Party (Ireland)|Labour Party]], with Liam Cosgrave as Taoiseach. FitzGerald hoped<ref name="Independent-Obit" /> that he would take over as Minister for Finance, particularly after a good performance in a pre-election debate with the then Minister for Finance [[George Colley]]. However, the position went to [[Richie Ryan (politician)|Richie Ryan]], with FitzGerald becoming [[Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade|Minister for Foreign Affairs]]. FitzGerald's father had held that same post in a government led by Liam Cosgrave's father [[W. T. Cosgrave]], fifty years earlier. His appointment to [[Iveagh House]] (the headquarters of the [[Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade|Department of Foreign Affairs]]) would have a significant effect on FitzGerald's career and the future of Fine Gael. Cosgrave was suspicious of FitzGerald's liberal ideas and believed that he had designs on the leadership. During his period at Foreign Affairs, FitzGerald developed a good relationship with Liam Cosgrave, and all the tension between them in opposition disappeared.

The minister's role had changed substantially since his father's day. Ireland was no longer a member of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]], but had in 1973 joined the [[European Economic Community]] (EEC), the organisation which would later become the [[European Union]] (EU). FitzGerald, firmly ensconced as Foreign Minister, was free from any blame due to other Ministers' mishandling of the economy. If anything, his tenure at the Department of Foreign Affairs helped him eventually achieve the party's leadership. His innovative views, energy and fluency in French won him – and through him, Ireland – a status in European affairs far exceeding the country's size and ensured that the first Irish Presidency of the European Council in 1975 was a noted success.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/ireland/ireland_in_the_eu/impact_of_ireland_on_eu/index_en.htm|title=Impact of Ireland on EU policy|publisher=European Union|access-date=21 May 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111031011140/http://ec.europa.eu/ireland/ireland_in_the_eu/impact_of_ireland_on_eu/index_en.htm|archive-date=31 October 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

FitzGerald's policy towards church-state relations, however, brought him into a confrontation with the Roman Catholic church, whose "special position" in the Republic had been enshrined in the [[Constitution of Ireland|constitution]] until the [[Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|Referendum]] of December 1972. FitzGerald, in 1973, met the [[Cardinal Secretary of State]], [[Agostino Casaroli]], and proposed to modify the Republic's Constitution further to remove laws with overtly Catholic foundations, such as the bans on divorce and contraception, as well as to relax the public stigmas in Northern Ireland towards mixed religious marriages and integrated education. Casaroli initially seemed receptive, and the government formally submitted the proposal to the [[Holy See|Vatican]]. FitzGerald's vision caused great consternation among the church's hierarchy, however, and in 1977, [[Pope Paul VI]] personally met with FitzGerald to tell him that "Ireland was a Catholic country – perhaps the only one left – and it should stay that way. Laws should not be changed in any way that would make the country less Catholic."<ref name="HillMoody2010">{{cite book |last=Keogh |first=Dermot |author-link=Dermot Keogh |chapter=Ireland, 1972–84 |editor1=J. R. Hill|editor2=Theodore William Moody|editor3=Francis X. Martin|editor4=Francis John Byrne |display-editors=1 |title=A New History of Ireland Volume VII: Ireland, 1921–84|chapter-url={{GBurl|id=wikUDAAAQBAJ|p=369}} |chapter-url-access=limited |year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-959282-1|page=369}}</ref>