Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party, more commonly known as Fianna Fáil (Irish pronunciation: [ˌfʲiənə ˈfɔːlʲ]) is a centrist to centre-rightIrish republican political party in Ireland, founded on 23 March 1926. Fianna Fáil's name is traditionally translated into English as Soldiers of Destiny, although a more accurate rendition would be Warriors of Fál ("Fál" being a legendary name for Ireland). Historically Fianna Fáil has been seen as to the left of Fine Gael and to the right of the Labour Party and is generally seen as a classic "catch all" populist party - representing a broad range of people from all social classes with the belief in the coincidence of economic growth and social progress. Fianna Fáil has led governments including parties of the left (Labour Party and Green Party) and of the right (Progressive Democrats) and is often seen as a pragmatic party of the establishment. It is currently led by Micheál Martin.

Since the formation of the first Fianna Fáil government on 9 March 1932, the party has been in power for 61 of the last 79 years. Its longest continuous period in office was 15 years and 11 months (March 1932–February 1948). Its single longest period out of office, in that time, has been 4 years and 4 months (March 1973–July 1977). Seven of the party's eight leaders have served as Taoiseach. It was the largest party in Dáil Éireann at every general election from the 1932 general election until the 2011 general election, when it suffered the worst defeat of a sitting government in the history of the Irish state, a loss described as "historic" in its proportions, where it saw its electoral support base diminished by 75%, as a reaction to the intervention, in the running of the Irish economy, of the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank in November 2010. After the February 2011 election, it moved from being the largest party to the third-largest party in the 31st Dáil.

Brian Cowen (born 10 January 1960) is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 7 May 2008 to 9 March 2011. He was head of a coalition government led by Fianna Fáil which until 23 January 2011 had the support of the Green Party and independent TDs.

Cowen was also leader of Fianna Fáil from 7 May 2008 until 22 January 2011, when he resigned under political pressure after a failed and highly controversial attempt at a cabinet reshuffle.

He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Laois–Offaly constituency from 1984 to 2011. He previously served as Minister for Labour (1992–93), Minister for Energy (1993), Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications (1993–94), Minister for Health (1997–2000), Minister for Foreign Affairs (2000–04) and Minister for Finance (2004–08) and also as Tánaiste (2007–08). He became leader of Fianna Fáil on the resignation of Bertie Ahern. On 7 May 2008, following the resignation of Ahern as Taoiseach, Cowen was nominated by Dáil Éireann to replace him and was appointed by the President later that day.

Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008.

Ahern served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1977 to 2011 and he represented the constituency of Dublin Central. Before he became Taoiseach, he served in the governments of Charles Haughey and Albert Reynolds as Minister for Labour (1987–91) and Minister for Finance (1991–94). He also served briefly as Tánaiste after the break-up of Albert Reynolds' coalition government.

In 1994, Ahern was elected sixth leader of Fianna Fáil. Under Ahern's leadership Fianna Fáil led three coalition governments. After Éamon de Valera, Bertie Ahern's term as Taoiseach is the longest. Ahern resigned as Taoiseach on 6 May 2008 and was succeeded by the then Minister for Finance Brian Cowen.

Ahern was born in Drumcondra, Dublin. This is an area within the Dublin Central constituency where he has lived all his life. Ahern is the youngest of five children of Con Ahern and Julia Ahern (née Hourihane), both natives of County Cork. Con Ahern and Julia Hourihane were married in October 1937 and settled at Church Avenue, Drumcondra, where they resided for the rest of their lives. The other four children are Maurice, Kathleen, Noel and Eileen. In Dublin, Ahern's father worked as a farm manager at All Hallows College, Drumcondra. Ahern's brother Noel is also involved in politics and represented Dublin North–West in Dáil Éireann.

Colm Keaveney (born 11 January 1971) is an Irish Labour Party politician. He was elected as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway East constituency at the 2011 general election.

He is originally from the village of Garrafrauns, in north County Galway.

He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Galway East constituency at the 1997 general election. He was first elected to Tuam town council in 1999. Keaveney was elected to Galway County Council in 2004, gaining just under 2,000 votes in the Tuam electoral area.

He is a former SIPTU trade union official and former President of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI).

At the 2011 general election, he was elected as the first ever Labour Party TD for the Galway East constituency. He was elected after the ninth count with a total poll of 10,126 votes.

At the 2012 Labour party Conference In N.U.I.G. Galway Colm was elected Chairperson of the Labour party.

Professor Tim Bale is an academic at the University of Sussex. He is the author of The Conservative Party: From Thatcher to Cameron.

His main research interests are in the fields of British, European and Comparative politics, especially in relation to centre-right and conservative politics.

He is convenor of the Political Studies Association specialist group on Conservatives and Conservatism, which brings together leading scholars with an academic interest in this area.