Editing Cumann na nGaedheal (section)

==Electoral decline and merger==
[[File:CnG 1932 Posters.jpg|thumb|left|During [[1932 Irish general election|the 1932 election]] Cumann na nGaedheal propaganda linked Fianna Fáil to the [[Anti-Treaty IRA|IRA]], and the IRA to Communism.]]
The party's support base gradually slipped to [[Éamon de Valera]]'s new party [[Fianna Fáil]] after its inception in 1926. Cosgrave's Cumann na nGaedheal became solely identified with protecting the treaty and defending the new State while it seemed preoccupied with public safety. Economically the party favoured balanced budgets and free trade at a time when its opponents advocated protectionism. The weak economy of the Free State suffered during the [[Great Depression]]. Nonetheless, it came as a surprise when Cumann na nGaedheal was defeated by [[Fianna Fáil]] in the [[1932 Irish general election|general election of February 1932]], winning 57 seats to Fianna Fáil's 72.

Having spent its entire existence prior to 1932 in government, Cumann na nGaedheal was ill-prepared for a role in opposition. Its support base contracted further at the [[1933 Irish general election|general election in January 1933]], when it won 48 seats compared to Fianna Fáil's 77. Increasingly, the party found itself unable to counter de Valera's populism and was increasingly labelled the party of the middle class. The party subsequently entered discussions with the [[National Centre Party (Ireland)|National Centre Party]] and the ultranationalist [[Blueshirts|National Guard]] (Blueshirts) on the possibility of a merger. That came about in September 1933, with the formation of ''[[Fine Gael]]'' from the three parties, though, in reality, Fine Gael was a larger version of Cumann na nGaedheal. It was in the lead-up to the merger that the then Editor of the ''[[Irish Times]]'', [[R. M. "Bertie" Smyllie|R.M. Smyllie]], described Cumann na nGaedheal as a party "who one wished would be open to ideas, until one saw the kind of ideas they were open to".<ref name="Brown1971">{{cite book|author=Stephen James Meredith Brown|title=The Press in Ireland: A Survey and a Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AhorAAAAMAAJ|year=1971|publisher=Lemma Publishing Corporation|isbn=978-0-87696-017-2|access-date=11 March 2020|archive-date=29 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729210248/https://books.google.com/books?id=AhorAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>