Taoiseach facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Taoiseach
Incumbent Micheál Martin since 23 January 2025
Executive branch of the Irish Government Department of the Taoiseach
Style	Irish: A Thaoisigh
Member of	Dáil Éireann Cabinet Council of State British–Irish Council European Council
Reports to	Oireachtas
Residence	None
Seat	Government Buildings, Merrion Street, Dublin, Ireland
Nominator	Dáil Éireann
Appointer	President of Ireland
Term length	While commanding the confidence of the majority of Dáil Éireann. No term limits are imposed on the office.
Precursor	President of the Executive Council
Formation	29 December 1937
First holder	Éamon de Valera
Deputy	Tánaiste
Salary	€243,895 annually (2024) (including €113,679 salary as a TD)

The Taoiseach (pronounced TEE-shukh) is the leader of the government in Ireland. This person is like a prime minister or head of government in other countries. The President of Ireland officially appoints the Taoiseach. However, the Taoiseach must first be chosen by Dáil Éireann. The Dáil is the main part of Ireland's parliament, called the Oireachtas. To stay in power, the Taoiseach needs the support of most members in the Dáil.

The word taoiseach comes from the Irish language. It means "chief" or "leader." This title was first used in the 1937 Constitution of Ireland. It is the official name for Ireland's head of government in both English and Irish. For leaders of other countries, the Irish word príomh-aire is used instead. Sometimes, you might hear "an Taoiseach" in English, which means "the Taoiseach."

The current Taoiseach is Micheál Martin. He is a TD, which means a member of the Dáil. He is also the leader of the Fianna Fáil political party. He became Taoiseach on 23 January 2025. This happened after the 2024 Irish general election and an agreement between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and some independent politicians.

How the Taoiseach is Chosen

The Constitution of Ireland explains how the Taoiseach is chosen. First, the Taoiseach is nominated by a simple majority vote in Dáil Éireann. This means more than half of the members who vote must agree. After the Dáil nominates someone, the President of Ireland formally appoints them. The President must appoint the person the Dáil chooses. They cannot refuse this choice. Because of this, people sometimes say the Taoiseach is "elected" by the Dáil.

If the Taoiseach loses the support of most members in the Dáil, they do not automatically lose their job. Instead, they must either resign or ask the President to dissolve the Dáil. If the Dáil is dissolved, new elections are called. The President has the power to refuse to dissolve the Dáil. If this happens, the Taoiseach would have to resign. So far, no President has ever refused to dissolve the Dáil.

The Taoiseach can lose Dáil support in a few ways. The Dáil might pass a vote of no confidence. Or, they might fail to pass a vote of confidence. The Dáil could also refuse to approve government spending. If the Taoiseach resigns, they continue to do their job until a new leader is appointed.

The Taoiseach also chooses the other members of the Government, who are called ministers. These ministers are then appointed by the President, with the Dáil's approval. The Taoiseach can also advise the President to remove ministers from their jobs. The President must follow this advice. The Taoiseach also appoints eleven members to the Seanad, which is the upper house of parliament.

The Department of the Taoiseach is a government office that helps and advises the Taoiseach. The Taoiseach also has help from other ministers, including the Government Chief Whip.

Taoiseach's Salary and Home

Since 2013, the Taoiseach's yearly salary is €185,350. This amount includes their salary as a TD. The Taoiseach also receives about €118,981 each year for expenses.

There is no official home for the Taoiseach. In 2008, there were talks about using Steward's Lodge at Farmleigh as an official residence. However, this never became official. This house was renovated in 2005. Some past Taoisigh have used it occasionally. They paid a small fee to use the house to avoid taxes.

The Taoiseach's Musical Salute

When the Taoiseach arrives at state ceremonies, a special musical salute is played. This salute is called "Mór Chluana." It is a traditional Irish tune. Army bands play this music for the Taoiseach.

History of the Title

Origins of the Words

The words Taoiseach and Tánaiste (which means deputy prime minister) are very old Irish words. While Taoiseach means "head of the Government" or "Prime Minister," its original meaning is "chieftain" or "leader." The word Tánaiste comes from an old Gaelic system called tanistry. In this system, a leader would choose their successor while they were still alive.

In Scottish Gaelic, the word tòiseach means 'clan chief.' Both words had similar meanings in the old Gaelic languages of Scotland and Ireland. The Welsh language word tywysog, meaning 'prince,' also has a similar origin. Experts believe both words come from an even older language called Proto-Celtic.

The plural form of taoiseach is taoisigh. Even though the Irish form An Taoiseach is sometimes used in English, the English version of the Constitution says the leader "shall be called … the Taoiseach."

Debating the Name

In 1937, when the new Constitution of Ireland was being discussed, some politicians debated the name "Taoiseach." Frank MacDermot, an opposition politician, wanted to change it to "Prime Minister" in the English version. He thought "Taoiseach" was hard for most people to pronounce correctly. He also felt it might make people in Northern Ireland less likely to join the Republic.

However, Éamon de Valera, who was leading the government at the time, did not agree. He said the word "Taoiseach" meant "chieftain" or "Captain." He felt it did not need to be changed. The idea to change the name was voted down. So, "Taoiseach" became the official title after the people voted to approve the Constitution.

The Modern Role

The Department of the Taoiseach at Government Buildings in Merrion Street, Dublin.

The role of Taoiseach was created by the 1937 Constitution of Ireland. It is the most powerful job in Irish politics. This new role replaced an older one called the President of the Executive Council. That job existed during the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1937.

The Taoiseach has much more power than the old President of the Executive Council. For example, the old leader could not fire a minister on their own. The whole government had to be dissolved and reformed to remove someone. Also, the old leader could not ask the Governor-General to dissolve the Dáil by themselves. That power belonged to the whole government.

The Taoiseach, however, can advise the President to fire ministers. They can also ask the President to dissolve parliament. The President almost always has to follow this advice. The Taoiseach is the main leader of the government. In many other countries, the head of state (like a President or King/Queen) is the official chief executive. But in Ireland, the power to run the country is clearly given to the Government, and the Taoiseach leads it.

Because the Taoiseach is the head of the government and can remove ministers, many decisions are made by the Taoiseach. The government usually supports the Taoiseach's main decisions. They often make these decisions official at a later meeting. Still, the need for the whole government to make decisions together helps prevent bad choices by the Taoiseach.

Usually, when there are coalition governments (made of several parties), the Taoiseach is the leader of the largest party. One exception was John A. Costello. He was not the leader of his party, but other parties agreed he should lead the government. This was because they did not want his party's actual leader, Richard Mulcahy, to be Taoiseach.

After the 2020 Irish general election, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael formed a government together for the first time. They decided to share the role of Taoiseach. Micheál Martin went first, then Leo Varadkar took over. Later, Simon Harris became Taoiseach. These parties decided to continue this shared role after the 2024 Irish general election.

List of Leaders

The table below shows the people who have served as the head of government in Ireland. Before 1937, this role was called the President of the Executive Council. W. T. Cosgrave and Éamon de Valera held this position. By tradition, when we count the Taoisigh, we include Cosgrave. This is why Micheál Martin is considered the 15th Taoiseach, not the 14th.

President of the Executive Council
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death) Constituency	Term of office		Party	Exec. Council Composition		Vice President		Dáil (elected)
1		W. T. Cosgrave (1880–1965) TD for Carlow–Kilkenny until 1927 TD for Cork Borough from 1927	6 December 1922	9 March 1932	Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty)	1st	SF (PT) (minority)		Kevin O'Higgins	3 (1922)
					Cumann na nGaedheal	2nd	CnG (minority)			4 (1923)
						3rd			Ernest Blythe	5 (Jun.1927)
						4th				6 (Sep.1927)
						5th
2		Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) TD for Clare	9 March 1932	29 December 1937	Fianna Fáil	6th	FF (minority)		Seán T. O'Kelly	7 (1932)
						7th				8 (1933)
						8th				9 (1937)
Taoiseach
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death) Constituency	Term of office		Party	Government Composition		Tánaiste		Dáil (elected)
(2)		Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) TD for Clare	29 December 1937	18 February 1948	Fianna Fáil	1st	FF (minority)		Seán T. O'Kelly	9 ( ···· )
						2nd	FF			10 (1938)
						3rd	FF (minority)			11 (1943)
						4th	FF		Seán Lemass	12 (1944)
3		John A. Costello (1891–1976) TD for Dublin South-East	18 February 1948	13 June 1951	Fine Gael	5th	FG–Lab–CnP–CnT–NL–Ind		William Norton	13 (1948)
(2)		Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) TD for Clare	13 June 1951	2 June 1954	Fianna Fáil	6th	FF (minority)		Seán Lemass	14 (1951)
(3)		John A. Costello (1891–1976) TD for Dublin South-East	2 June 1954	20 March 1957	Fine Gael	7th	FG–Lab–CnT		William Norton	15 (1954)
(2)		Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) TD for Clare	20 March 1957	23 June 1959	Fianna Fáil	8th	FF		Seán Lemass	16 (1957)
4		Seán Lemass (1899–1971) TD for Dublin South-Central	23 June 1959	10 November 1966	Fianna Fáil	9th	FF		Seán MacEntee
						10th	FF (minority)			17 (1961)
						11th	FF		Frank Aiken	18 (1965)
5		Jack Lynch (1917–1999) TD for Cork Borough until 1969 TD for Cork City North-West from 1969	10 November 1966	14 March 1973	Fianna Fáil	12th	FF
						13th	FF		Erskine H. Childers	19 (1969)
6		Liam Cosgrave (1920–2017) TD for Dún Laoghaire and Rathdown	14 March 1973	5 July 1977	Fine Gael	14th	FG–Lab		Brendan Corish	20 (1973)
(5)		Jack Lynch (1917–1999) TD for Cork City	5 July 1977	11 December 1979	Fianna Fáil	15th	FF		George Colley	21 (1977)
7		Charles Haughey (1925–2006) TD for Dublin Artane	11 December 1979	30 June 1981	Fianna Fáil	16th	FF
8		Garret FitzGerald (1926–2011) TD for Dublin South-East	30 June 1981	9 March 1982	Fine Gael	17th	FG–Lab (minority)		Michael O'Leary	22 (1981)
(7)		Charles Haughey (1925–2006) TD for Dublin North-Central	9 March 1982	14 December 1982	Fianna Fáil	18th	FF (minority)		Ray MacSharry	23 (Feb.1982)
(8)		Garret FitzGerald (1926–2011) TD for Dublin South-East	14 December 1982	10 March 1987	Fine Gael	19th	FG–Lab FG (minority) from Jan 1987		Dick Spring	24 (Nov.1982)
									Peter Barry
(7)		Charles Haughey (1925–2006) TD for Dublin North-Central	10 March 1987	11 February 1992	Fianna Fáil	20th	FF (minority)		Brian Lenihan	25 (1987)
						21st	FF–PD			26 (1989)
									John Wilson
9		Albert Reynolds (1932–2014) TD for Longford–Roscommon	11 February 1992	15 December 1994	Fianna Fáil	22th	FF–PD FF (minority) from Nov 1992
						23rd	FF–Lab FF (minority) from Nov 1994		Dick Spring	27 (1992)
									Bertie Ahern
10		John Bruton (1947–2024) TD for Meath	15 December 1994	26 June 1997	Fine Gael	24th	FG–Lab–DL		Dick Spring
11		Bertie Ahern (b. 1951) TD for Dublin Central	26 June 1997	7 May 2008	Fianna Fáil	25th	FF–PD (minority)		Mary Harney	28 (1997)
						26th	FF–PD			29 (2002)
									Michael McDowell
						27th	FF–Green–PD		Brian Cowen	30 (2007)
12		Brian Cowen (b. 1960) TD for Laois–Offaly	7 May 2008	9 March 2011	Fianna Fáil	28th	FF–Green–PD FF–Green–Ind from Nov 2009 FF (minority) from Jan 2011		Mary Coughlan
13		Enda Kenny (b. 1951) TD for Mayo	9 March 2011	14 June 2017	Fine Gael	29th	FG–Lab		Eamon Gilmore	31 (2011)
									Joan Burton
						30th	FG–Ind (minority)		Frances Fitzgerald	32 (2016)
14		Leo Varadkar (b. 1979) TD for Dublin West	14 June 2017	27 June 2020	Fine Gael	31st	FG–Ind (minority)
									Simon Coveney
15		Micheál Martin (b. 1960) TD for Cork South-Central	27 June 2020	17 December 2022	Fianna Fáil	32nd	FF–FG–Green		Leo Varadkar	33 (2020)
(14)		Leo Varadkar (b. 1979) TD for Dublin West	17 December 2022	9 April 2024	Fine Gael	33rd	FG–FF–Green		Micheál Martin
16		Simon Harris (b. 1986) TD for Wicklow	9 April 2024	23 January 2025	Fine Gael	34th	FG–FF–Green
(15)		Micheál Martin (b. 1960) TD for Cork South-Central	23 January 2025	N/A	Fianna Fáil	35th	FF–FG–Ind		Simon Harris	34 (2024)

See also

In Spanish: Taoiseach para niños

• Politics of the Republic of Ireland
• Records of Irish heads of government since 1922
• Irish heads of government since 1919