Taoiseach

The Taoiseach (ⁱ/ˈtiːʃəx/) is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (parliament), and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil. The current Taoiseach is Enda Kenny, TD, who was appointed on 9 March 2011.

The word means "chief" in the Irish language. The earliest known use of the term is from a 5th- or 6th-century ogham inscription in both the Gaelic and Brittonic languages.

Overview

Under the Constitution of Ireland, the Taoiseach is nominated by a simple majority of Dáil Éireann from among its members. He is then formally appointed to office by the President, who is required to appoint whomever the Dáil designates without the option of declining appointment.

If the Taoiseach loses the support of a majority in Dáil Éireann, he is not automatically removed from office but, rather, is compelled to either resign or persuade the President to dissolve the Dáil. The President may refuse to grant a dissolution and, in effect, force the Taoiseach to resign, but, to date, no president has exercised this prerogative, though the option arose in 1944 and 1994 and twice in 1982. The Taoiseach may lose the support of Dáil Éireann by the passage of a vote of no confidence, the failure of a vote of confidence or, alternatively, the Dáil may refuse supply. In the event of the Taoiseach's resignation, he continues to exercise the duties and functions of his office until the appointment of a successor.

Enda Kenny

Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish Fine Gael politician, and has been the Taoiseach since March 2011. He has led Fine Gael since 2002. He served as Minister for Tourism and Trade from 1994 to 1997. He is also a two-term Vice-President of the European People's Party.

Kenny has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for Mayo since 1975, having succeeded his father Henry Kenny. He is the longest-serving TD currently in Dáil Éireann, which makes him the incumbent Father of the Dáil.

Kenny led Fine Gael in the 2011 general election. He subsequently brokered an agreement with the Labour Party and formed a coalition government on 9 March 2011. He is Fine Gael's first Taoiseach since John Bruton from 1994 to 1997, and the first Fine Gael leader to win government in an election since Garret FitzGerald in 1982.

Early and private life

Enda Kenny was born in Derrywash, Islandeady near Castlebar, County Mayo in 1951, the third child of five. He was educated locally at St Patrick's National School, Cornanool and at St Gerald's College, Castlebar. He attended St Patrick's College of Education, Dublin, qualifying as a national teacher and was an undergraduate student at University College Galway. He worked as a primary school teacher for four years.

Gerry Adams

Gerard Adams (Irish: Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish republican politician who is the president of the Sinn Féin political party, and a Teachta Dála (Member of Parliament) for Louth since the 2011 general election.

From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament (MP) for Belfast West.

He has been the president of Sinn Féin since 1983. Since that time the party has become the fourth-largest party in the Republic of Ireland, the second-largest political party in Northern Ireland and the largest Irish nationalist party in that region. In 1984, Adams was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt by several gunmen from the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) including John Gregg. From the late 1980s onwards, Adams was an important figure in the Northern Ireland peace process, initially following contact by the then-Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader John Hume and then subsequently with the Irish and British governments.