The most successful political party in the history of the Republic celebrated its one hundredth birthday this week. If you would like, you can visit the party’s website and read their own accounting of their journey…
It was visionary, idealistic, and committed men and women who founded Fianna Fáil, in the La Scala Theatre, Dublin, in 1926, under the leadership of Eamon de Valera. What followed was a momentous national movement encompassing the ideals of a united Ireland, social and economic advancement, and equal opportunities. Fianna Fáil entered government for the first time in 1932 and in 1937 the Irish people ratified Bunreacht na hÉireann, the Irish constitution.
The circumstances of the foundation of the party were a little more complex. Eamon de Valera and others wished to pursue a course of altering the Treaty settlement within the structures of the new state and this led to a split within the original Sinn Féin party at the time. The new party proved to be an election-winning machine and has been in government far more often than it has been in opposition. Eight men have led Fianna Fáil and all eight men have been Taoiseach, from de Valera himself on three separate occasions across a quarter century to the current incumbent as both party leader and Taoiseach, Michéal Martin.
Martin himself came to lead the party in the immediate run-up to the 2011 General Election which saw his party suffer an unprecedented loss of seats, losing 58 TDs from a previous cohort of 78 and leaving his party in third place in the Dáil. Over the next few years Martin successfully rebuilt his party to once again be the largest in the Dáil as of the 2020 General Election and significantly expanding theit number of seats as of the 2024 General Election. Whilst the days of single-party government in the Republic appear to be over, Fianna Fáil has seemingly settled into a comfortable equilibrium with their old adversaries in Fine Gael, the two parties having operated a coalition government (alongside the Greens from 2020-2024 and various independents since the last election) with the position of Taoiseach being rotated since 2020. Michéal Martin is scheduled to stand down as Taoiseach in favour of Fine Gael’s Simon Harris sometime in 2027.
Earlier this year Martin launched a programme marking his party’s centenary
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he is confident in Fianna Fáil’s future existence, as he launched a programme to commemorate the centenary of the foundation of the party…Speaking ahead of the event, Mr Martin said he was confident Fianna Fáil would not go the way of the Whigs or the Irish Parliamentary Party and cease to exist in the future. He said: “We’re the largest party in Government right now, largest local party, and I’m confident in Fianna Fáil will grow.
“In addition to the very fine representatives, we have a cohort of very good, high quality deputies who came into the party which gives me real hope for the future. But it is a much more fragmented legislature, and it’s a more fragmented system and multi-seat proportional representation…was always meant to give you fragmentation.
“That has its challenges as I think an overly fragmented parliament is problematic in terms of government decision making.” He added: “And what’s been interesting is in the last number of elections, Fianna Fáil has been more transfer friendly than it would have been historically and that’s helped us win seats in closely fought constituencies.”
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