Fine Gael
Party Ideology & History
Fine Gael was formed in September 1933 through a merger of Cumann na nGaedheal (the governing pro-Treaty party since 1923), the small farmers' National Centre Party, and the National Guard — a paramilitary movement known as the Blueshirts, whose leader Eoin O'Duffy became Fine Gael's first president. O'Duffy was forced out within a year over his increasingly extreme rhetoric, and the party settled into a more conventional role as the second-largest force in Irish politics for the rest of the century.
Fine Gael ("Family of the Irish") was founded in 1933 from a merger of parties associated with the pro-Treaty side of the Irish Civil War, including Cumann na nGaedheal. It is a centre-right, pro-European party and a member of the European People's Party. Currently led by Tánaiste Simon Harris, Fine Gael is in government with Fianna Fáil and Independents. The party is traditionally associated with law and order, fiscal responsibility, and European integration. It won 38 seats and 20.80% of first-preference votes in the 2024 general election.
Party Leadership
- Leo Varadkar 2017–2024
- Enda Kenny 2002–2017
- Michael Noonan 2001–2002
- John Bruton 1990–2001
- Alan Dukes 1987–1990
- Garret FitzGerald 1977–1987
- Liam Cosgrave 1965–1977
- James Dillon 1959–1965
- Richard Mulcahy 1944–1959
- W. T. Cosgrave 1934–1944
- Eoin O'Duffy 1933–1934
Fine Gael Since 2007
First-preference national vote share across the last five general elections, plus today's polling average (dashed outline — a polling average, not an election result) — the same long-run record this site's seat projection model uses to calibrate how efficiently Fine Gael's vote converts into seats. Hover a bar for seats won.
Vote-transfer environment: today's poll mix is less favourable for Fine Gael's PR-STV transfers than the 2024 result was (-0.7% on its baseline seat-conversion rate), based on how the parties that tend to transfer well to it are currently polling relative to 2024. .