Editing Garret FitzGerald (section)

== Taoiseach (1982–1987) ==
{{further|Government of the 24th Dáil}}
{{multiple image
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 |image1=An Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald at the Wang facility, Plassey Technological Park (9307630326).jpg
 |alt1=black-and-white photograph
 |caption1=FitzGerald (left) at the official opening of the [[Wang Laboratories|Wang]] facility in Plassey Technological Park, [[Limerick]], 1984
 |image2=President Ronald Reagan George Shultz Garret Meeting with Garret Fitzgerald Prime Minister of Ireland Ceremony in Rose Garden to Receive Shamrocks in a Waterford Bowl.jpg
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 |caption2=FitzGerald (right) giving a bowl of [[shamrock]]s to US president [[Ronald Reagan]] in the [[White House Rose Garden]] on [[St Patrick's Day]], 1986
}}

Deep economic recession dominated FitzGerald's second term as well as his first. Pursuing "fiscal rectitude" to reduce a high national debt required a firmer control of public spending than Labour found easy to accept. The harmonious relationship the Taoiseach developed with his [[Tánaiste]], [[Dick Spring]], successfully avoided a collapse of the coalition for more than four years, despite tensions between other Ministers, and enabled the government to survive. Fine Gael wanted to revive the economy by controlling public spending and imposing cutbacks to reduce the public budget deficit.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}

The measures proposed by FitzGerald's Minister for Finance, [[Alan Dukes]], were utterly unacceptable to the Labour Party, which was under enormous pressure from its support base to maintain public services. The two parties in government found themselves in a stalemate position. They stopped the financial crisis from worsening but could not take the decisive action that would generate economic growth. With negligible economic growth and large-scale unemployment, the FitzGerald government was deeply unpopular with the public.

When FitzGerald attended a [[Bilderberg meeting]] in 1985, his rival Haughey suggested it had links with [[NATO]], thus contravening [[Irish neutrality|Ireland's official position of neutrality]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/noonan-attends-annual-conference-of-bilderberg-group-1.1063369 |title=Noonan attends annual conference of Bilderberg group |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=2 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150608201943/http://www.irishtimes.com/news/noonan-attends-annual-conference-of-bilderberg-group-1.1063369 |archive-date=8 June 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Constitutional reform ===
As Taoiseach for a second time, FitzGerald advocated a liberalisation of Irish society to create what he called the non-sectarian nation of "[[Wolfe Tone|Tone]] and [[Thomas Davis (Young Irelander)|Davis]]". The [[Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|Eighth Amendment of the Constitution]], which "[acknowledged] the right to life of the unborn", was approved in a referendum against the recommendation of FitzGerald.<ref name=Ref_results>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.ie/pdf/?file=https://assets.gov.ie/130420/f956fce2-ac22-465a-b6c0-7f4289be27f8.pdf#page=46|title=Referendum Results|page=37|work=[[Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government]]|accessdate=2 February 2024|archive-date=22 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122160624/https://www.gov.ie/pdf/?file=https://assets.gov.ie/130420/f956fce2-ac22-465a-b6c0-7f4289be27f8.pdf#page=37|url-status=live}}</ref> A [[Tenth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1986|proposal to allow divorce]] was defeated in a 1986 referendum; however, the [[Contraception in the Republic of Ireland|law on contraception]] was liberalised under the [[Health (Family Planning) (Amendment) Act 1985]].<ref name="Independent-Obit" />

=== Northern Ireland ===
FitzGerald set up the [[New Ireland Forum]] in 1983, which brought together representatives of the constitutional political parties in the Republic and the nationalist [[SDLP]] from Northern Ireland. Although the Unionist parties declined his invitation to join, and the Forum's conclusions proposing various forms of association between Northern Ireland and the Republic were rejected outright by British prime minister [[Margaret Thatcher]], the Forum provided the impetus for the resumption of serious negotiations between the Irish and British governments, which culminated in the [[Anglo-Irish Agreement]] of November 1985. This agreement provided for a mechanism by which the British government could consult the Republic of Ireland regarding the governance of Northern Ireland,<ref name="BBC-obit">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-13451945 |title=Obituary: Irish statesman Garret FitzGerald |work=BBC News |date=19 May 2011 |access-date=21 May 2011 |archive-date=20 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520022723/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-13451945 |url-status=live}}</ref> and was bitterly opposed by Unionists in Northern Ireland, whose MPs all resigned their seats in the [[British Parliament]] in protest. New elections were required to be held in Northern Ireland, in which the unionists lost the seat of [[Newry and Armagh (UK Parliament constituency)|Newry and Armagh]] to [[Seamus Mallon]] of the SDLP. During this period, on 15 March 1984, he was also invited to address a [[joint session of the United States Congress]], the fourth Irish leader to do so.{{efn|Six Irish leaders have addressed [[List of joint sessions of the United States Congress|joint sessions of the US Congress]]:{{Circular reference|date=May 2020}} [[Seán T. O'Kelly]] (<!--18 March -->1959), [[Éamon de Valera]] (<!--28 May -->1964), [[Liam Cosgrave]] (<!--17 March -->1976), FitzGerald (<!--15 March -->1984), [[John Bruton]] (<!--11 September -->1996) and [[Bertie Ahern]] (<!--30 April -->2008).}}

His government had also passed the Extradition Act 1987, which ended the long-standing defence against [[extradition]] of suspects who could plead that an act of violence in Northern Ireland or Britain was a political offence.<ref>{{Cite Irish legislation |name=Extradition (European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism) Act 1987|year=1987 |number=1 |section=3|date=21 January 1987|stitle=Certain offences not to be regarded as political offences}}</ref>

While the agreement was repudiated and condemned by Unionists, it was said to become the basis for developing trust and joint action between the governments, which in time would ultimately bring about the [[Downing Street Declaration]] of 1993 and the subsequent republican and [[Ulster loyalism|loyalist]] cease-fires.<ref name="Independent-Obit" />

=== Infighting and declining support ===
FitzGerald attempted to reshuffle his cabinet in February 1986, but certain ministers resisted – notably [[Barry Desmond]], who refused to move from his Health and Social Welfare portfolio. The eventual outcome of the cabinet changes further undermined FitzGerald's authority. The new [[Progressive Democrats]] party was launched later that year by [[Desmond O'Malley]] out of the divisions within Fianna Fáil. It struck an immediate chord with many disenchanted Fine Gael supporters who had tired of the failure to address the economic crisis fully and who yearned for a coherent right-wing policy from FitzGerald. Seeing their party's support base under attack from the right only strengthened the resolve of FitzGerald's Fine Gael colleagues to break with the Labour Party approach, despite their leader's close empathy with Labour.

Stymied by the economic crisis, FitzGerald tried to rescue some of his ambitions to reform the state, and he proposed, in the middle of 1986, a referendum to change the constitution to allow for divorce. The proposed amendment was mired in controversy, and the many accompanying legal changes needed were not presented. Haughey skilfully opposed the referendum along with the Roman Catholic Church and landed interests worried about property rights.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}

In January 1987, the Labour Party members of the government withdrew from the government over disagreements due to budget proposals. Lacking a parliamentary majority, FitzGerald sought a dissolution of the Dáil, which was granted, continuing to lead a minority Fine Gael government until after the election. In the [[1987 Irish general election|1987 general election]], Fine Gael stood on the proposed stringent budgetary cutbacks that Labour had blocked for four years. Fianna Fáil returned to office in March 1987 after Fine Gael was heavily defeated in the election. The Progressive Democrats won 14 seats, mainly from [[Fine Gael]]. Although Haughey did not have an overall majority, when it came to the [[Dáil vote for Taoiseach|Dáil vote on the nomination of Taoiseach]], the Independent left-wing TD [[Tony Gregory]] voted against FitzGerald but abstained on Haughey, seeing Haughey as the "lesser of two evils". This was because of Gregory's opposition to the Anglo-Irish agreement and his strong personal dislike for FitzGerald.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}} Haughey was elected Taoiseach on the casting vote of the [[Ceann Comhairle]].