Garret FitzGerald

Dr. Garret FitzGerald (Irish name: Gearóid MacGearailt) (born February 9, 1926) was the seventh Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, serving two terms in office; July 1981 to February 1982, and December 1982 to March 1987. FitzGerald was elected to Seanad Éireann in 1965 and was subsequently elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael Teachta Dála in 1969. He previously served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1973 to 1977. FitzGerald was the leader of Fine Gael between 1977 and 1987. He is also the son of Desmond FitzGerald who was the first Minister for External Affairs of the new Irish state. At present FitzGerald is the Chancellor of the National University of Ireland. He is credited as being the most successful leader of the modern Fine Gael party.

Early Life

Garret FitzGerald was born in Dublin in 1926 into a very politically active family. His father was the London-born and reared Desmond FitzGerald, the Minister for External Affairs at the time of his son's birth. Fitzgerald senior had been active in Sinn Féin during the Anglo-Irish War, and had been one of the founders of Cumann na nGaedhael, the party formed to support the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, which created the Irish Free State. Though a senior figure on the 'pro-treaty' side of Ireland's political divide, Desmond FitzGerald had remained friendly with anti-Treaty republicans such as Belfastman Seán MacEntee, a minister in Eamon de Valera's government, and father-in-law of Conor Cruise O'Brien. The families of Patrick McGilligan and Ernest Blythe were also frequent visitors to the FitzGerald household. FitzGerald's mother, the former Mabel McConville, who, although an ardent nationalist and republican herself, came of Ulster unionist Protestant stock and left a lasting affect on her son's political philosophy. He would later describe his political objective as the creation of a pluralist Ireland where the northern Protestants of his mother?s family tradition and the southern Catholics of his father?s could feel equally at home.

Related Topics:
Dublin - 1926 - London - Desmond FitzGerald - Sinn Féin - Anglo-Irish War - Cumann na nGaedhael - Anglo-Irish Treaty - Irish Free State - Republicans - Belfast - Seán MacEntee - Eamon de Valera - Conor Cruise O'Brien - Patrick McGilligan - Ernest Blythe - Nationalist - Ulster - Unionist - Protestant

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FitzGerald was educated at the Jesuit Belvedere College and University College Dublin. He was deeply interested in the politics of the Spanish Civil War and World War II. An intellectually brilliant student who counted among his classmates in UCD his future political rival, Charles J. Haughey, who at one stage dated Joan O'Farrell, Liverpool-born daughter of a British army officer, Richard O'Farrell, and a fellow student, whom Garret Fitzgerald would go on to marry himself in 1947.

Related Topics:
Jesuit - Belvedere College - University College Dublin - Spanish Civil War - World War II - Charles J. Haughey - Liverpool - British army

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Following his university education he found employment with Aer Lingus, the state airline of Ireland, in 1947 and became an authority on the economics of transport. He remained in that post until 1959 when he became a lecturer in economics at UCD.

Related Topics:
Aer Lingus - 1947 - 1959

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~