Irish heads of government since 1919

Ireland

The head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland is known as the Taoiseach and heads a cabinet called the Government. However, since 1919, heads of government in the Irish state have borne a number of titles. Under the short-lived Irish Republic of 1919–22 the head of government was known first as the President of Dáil Éireann and later as the President of the Republic. Under the Irish Free State of 1922–37 the head of government was the President of the Executive Council. There also briefly existed, immediately before the creation of the Irish Free State, an interim office of Chairman of the Provisional Government. For a brief period in 1921 the offices of President of the Republic and Chairman of the Provisional Government existed simultaneously.

Offices
Head Deputy Cabinet State Constitution Date
President of Dáil Éireann/
President of the Irish Republic[lower-alpha 1]		 N/A Ministry Irish Republic Dáil Constitution 21 January 1919 – 6 December 1922
26 August 1921 – 6 December 1922
Chairman of the Provisional Government N/A Provisional Government Southern Ireland Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922 3 May 1921 – 6 December 1922
President of the Executive Council Vice-President Executive Council Irish Free State Constitution of the Irish Free State 6 December 1922 – 29 December 1937
Taoiseach Tánaiste Government Ireland Constitution of Ireland 29 December 1937 – present

List of officeholders
No. Portrait Name
(Birth–Death)		 Term Political party Constituency Government
Took office Left office Duration
1 Cathal Brugha
(1874–1922)		 21 January 1919 1 April 1919 70 days Sinn Féin Waterford County 1st Ministry
2 Éamon de Valera
(1882–1975)		 1 April 1919 9 January 1922 2 years, 283 days Sinn Féin Clare East and Mayo East
(1919–1921)
Clare
(1921–1922)		 2nd Ministry
(1919–1921)
3rd Ministry
(1921–1922)
3 Arthur Griffith
(1872–1922)[lower-alpha 2]		 10 January 1922 12 August 1922 214 days Sinn Féin
(Pro-Treaty faction)		 Cavan 4th Ministry
4 Michael Collins
(1890–1922)[lower-alpha 2]		 16 January 1922 22 August 1922 218 days Sinn Féin
(Pro-Treaty faction)		 Cork Mid, North,
South, South East and West		 1st Provisional Government
5 W. T. Cosgrave
(1880–1965)		 22 August 1922 9 March 1932 9 years, 200 days Cumann na nGaedheal[lower-alpha 3] Carlow–Kilkenny
(1922–1927)
Cork Borough
(1927–1932)		 1st Provisional Government
(1922)
2nd Provisional Government
(1922)
1st Executive Council
(1922–1923)
2nd Executive Council
(1923–1927)
3rd Executive Council
(1927)
4th Executive Council
(1927–1930)
5th Executive Council
(1930–1932)
(2) Éamon de Valera
(1882–1975)		 9 March 1932 18 February 1948 15 years, 346 days Fianna Fáil[lower-alpha 4] Clare 6th Executive Council
(1932–1933)
7th Executive Council
(1933–1937)
8th Executive Council
(1937)
1st Government
(1937–1938)
2nd Government
(1938–1943)
3rd Government
(1943–1944)
4th Government
(1944–1948)
6 John A. Costello
(1891–1976)		 18 February 1948 13 June 1951 3 years, 115 days Fine Gael[lower-alpha 5] Dublin South-East 5th Government
(2) Éamon de Valera
(1882–1975)		 13 June 1951 2 June 1954 2 years, 354 days Fianna Fáil Clare 6th Government
(6) John A. Costello
(1891–1976)		 2 June 1954 20 March 1957 2 years, 291 days Fine Gael Dublin South-East 7th Government
(2) Éamon de Valera
(1882–1975)		 20 March 1957 23 June 1959 2 years, 95 days Fianna Fáil Clare 8th Government
7 Seán Lemass
(1899–1971)		 23 June 1959 10 November 1966 7 years, 140 days Fianna Fáil Dublin South-Central 9th Government
(1959–1961)
10th Government
(1961–1965)
11th Government
(1965–1966)
8 Jack Lynch
(1917–1999)		 10 November 1966 14 March 1973 6 years, 124 days Fianna Fáil Cork Borough
(1966–1969)
Cork City North-West
(1969–1973)		 12th Government
(1966–1969)
13th Government
(1969–1973)
9 Liam Cosgrave
(1920–2017)		 14 March 1973 5 July 1977 4 years, 113 days Fine Gael Dún Laoghaire and Rathdown 14th Government
(8) Jack Lynch
(1917–1999)		 5 July 1977 11 December 1979 2 years, 159 days Fianna Fáil Cork City 15th Government
10 Charles Haughey
(1925–2006)		 11 December 1979 30 June 1981 1 year, 201 days Fianna Fáil Dublin Artane 16th Government
11 Garret FitzGerald
(1926–2011)		 30 June 1981 9 March 1982 252 days Fine Gael Dublin South-East 17th Government
(10) Charles Haughey
(1925–2006)		 9 March 1982 14 December 1982 280 days Fianna Fáil Dublin North-Central 18th Government
(11) Garret FitzGerald
(1926–2011)		 14 December 1982 10 March 1987 4 years, 86 days Fine Gael Dublin South-East 19th Government
(10) Charles Haughey
(1925–2006)		 10 March 1987 11 February 1992 4 years, 338 days Fianna Fáil Dublin North-Central 20th Government
(1987–1989)
21st Government
(1989–1992)
12 Albert Reynolds
(1932–2014)		 11 February 1992 15 December 1994 2 years, 307 days Fianna Fáil Longford–Roscommon 22nd Government
(1992–1993)
23rd Government
(1993–1994)
13 John Bruton
(born 1947)		 15 December 1994 26 June 1997 2 years, 193 days Fine Gael Meath 24th Government
(1994–1997)
14 Bertie Ahern
(born 1951)		 26 June 1997 7 May 2008 10 years, 315 days Fianna Fáil Dublin Central 25th Government
(1997–2002)
26th Government
(2002–2007)
27th Government
(2007–2008)
15 Brian Cowen
(born 1960)		 7 May 2008 9 March 2011 2 years, 306 days Fianna Fáil Laois–Offaly 28th Government
16 Enda Kenny
(born 1951)		 9 March 2011 14 June 2017 6 years, 97 days Fine Gael Mayo 29th Government
(2011–2016)
30th Government
(2016–2017)
17 Leo Varadkar
(born 1979)		 14 June 2017 27 June 2020 3 years, 13 days Fine Gael Dublin West 31st Government
18 Micheál Martin
(born 1960)		 27 June 2020 17 December 2022 2 years, 173 days Fianna Fáil Cork South-Central 32nd Government
(17) Leo Varadkar
(born 1979)		 17 December 2022 Incumbent 314 days Fine Gael Dublin West 33rd Government

Northern Ireland

The most recent devolved cabinet in Northern Ireland is the Northern Ireland Executive, established under the Good Friday Agreement. The Executive has been in operation, intermittently, since 1999; but had existed continuously since 2007, but after elections following a government collapsed on 16 January 2017, no Executive was formed until January 2020, when the parties came to an agreement and an Executive was subsequently established. Since 1921, there have been three different prime ministerial offices in Northern Ireland. The most recent structure, the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister, represents a diarchy. As such, there is no longer a singular executive office, but rather a dual office.

Offices
Head Cabinet Date
Prime Minister Government 7 June 1921 – 30 March 1972
Chief Executive Executive (Sunningdale) 1 January 1974 – 28 May 1974
First Minister and deputy First Minister Executive 1 July 1998 – present

List of officeholders
No. Portrait Name
(Birth–Death)		 Term Political party Constituency Government
Took office Left office Duration
1 Sir James Craig
(1871–1940)[lower-alpha 6]		 7 June 1921 24 November 1940 19 years, 170 days Ulster Unionist Party Down
(1921–1929)
North Down
(1929–1940)		 Craigavon ministry
2 John Miller Andrews
(1871–1956)		 25 November 1940 1 May 1943 2 years, 157 days Ulster Unionist Party Mid Down Andrews ministry
3 Sir Basil Brooke
(1888–1973)[lower-alpha 7]		 1 May 1943 25 March 1963 19 years, 328 days Ulster Unionist Party Lisnaskea Brookeborough ministry
4 Terence O'Neill
(1914–1990)		 25 March 1963 1 May 1969 6 years, 37 days Ulster Unionist Party Bannside O'Neill ministry
5 James Chichester-Clark
(1923–2002)		 1 May 1969 23 March 1971 1 year, 326 days Ulster Unionist Party South Londonderry Chichester-Clark ministry
6 Brian Faulkner
(1921–1977)		 23 March 1971 30 March 1972 1 year, 7 days Ulster Unionist Party East Down Faulkner ministry
1 January 1974 28 May 1974 147 days South Down 1974 Executive
First Ministers
1 David Trimble
(1944–2022)		 1 July 1998 14 October 2002 4 years, 105 days Ulster Unionist Party Upper Bann First Executive
2 Ian Paisley
(1926–2014)		 8 May 2007 5 June 2008 1 year, 28 days Democratic Unionist Party North Antrim Second Executive
3 Peter Robinson
(born 1948)		 5 June 2008 11 January 2016 7 years, 220 days Democratic Unionist Party Belfast East Second Executive
(2008–2011)
Third Executive
(2011–2016)
4 Arlene Foster
(born 1970)		 11 January 2016 9 January 2017 364 days Democratic Unionist Party Fermanagh and South Tyrone Fourth Executive
11 January 2020 14 June 2021 1 year, 154 days Fifth Executive
5 Paul Givan
(born 1981)		 17 June 2021 3 February 2022 231 days Democratic Unionist Party Lagan Valley
Deputy First Ministers
1 Seamus Mallon
(1936–2020)		 1 July 1998 6 November 2001 3 years, 128 days Social Democratic and Labour Party Newry and Armagh First Executive
2 Mark Durkan
(born 1960)		 6 November 2001 14 October 2002 342 days Social Democratic and Labour Party Foyle First Executive
3 Martin McGuinness
(1950–2017)		 8 May 2007 9 January 2017 9 years, 246 days Sinn Féin Mid Ulster
(2007–2016)
Foyle
(2016–2017)		 Second Executive
(2007–2011)
Third Executive
(2011–2016)
Fourth Executive
(2016–2017)
4 Michelle O'Neill
(born 1977)		 11 January 2020 3 February 2022 2 years, 23 days Sinn Féin Mid Ulster Fifth Executive

See also

Notes
  1. The President of Dáil Éireann, also known as the Príomh Aire, was upgraded to a head of state-level President of the Irish Republic in August 1921.
  2. From January to August 1922 there were two administrations operating in parallel, the Ministry of the self-declared independent Irish Republic and the Provisional Government accepted by the United Kingdom, and each cabinet had an overlapping membership. De Valera had filled both posts, but after his resignation there were two heads of government, Arthur Griffith, as President of the Republic, and Michael Collins as Chairman of the Provisional Government of Southern Ireland. This anomalous situation came about because the British Government would only recognise the parliament that it had established through the Government of Ireland Act, so Sinn Féin participated in the charade to move matters along. To add to the confusion, Collins was Griffith's Minister of Finance, while Griffith was Collins's Minister for Foreign Affairs. The dual leadership came to an end when W. T. Cosgrave assumed both offices on the deaths of Griffith, on 12 August 1922, and Collins, on 22 August, and merged the two parallel administrations.
  3. When W. T. Cosgrave first became head of government he was still technically a member of Sinn Féin. However the pro-Treaty faction of Sinn Féin reformed itself as Cumann na nGaedheal shortly afterwards.
  4. Successor of the Sinn Féin Anti-Treaty faction.
  5. Successor of Cumann na nGaedheal and two more parties.
  6. After 1927, the Viscount Craigavon.
  7. After 1952, the Viscount Brookeborough.

References
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