Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtà Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
is the largest
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
in the
Oireachtas. On 12 April 2011 party leader
Micheál Martin
Micheál Martin (; born 1 August 1960) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who is serving as Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence since December 2022. He served as Taoiseach from 2020 to 2022 and has been Leader of ...
appointed his second front bench, consisting of all 20 of the party's
Teachtaà Dála (TDs) and one local councillor, to be spokespersons on areas corresponding to the various government departments. This was the second front bench appointed by Martin in 10 weeks: on 31 January 2011 he had appointed a team of TDs, senators, councillors and Fianna Fáil election candidates as party spokespersons on different issues in advance of the
2011 general election campaign.
In that campaign six sitting front bench TDs, including the deputy leader
Mary Hanafin
Mary Hanafin (born 1 June 1959) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport from 2010 to 2011, Deputy Leader of Fianna Fáil from January 2011 to March 2011, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Inn ...
, were not re-elected. Positions also reflected the restructuring of government departments by the incoming
Fine Gael
Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil à ...
-
Labour Party coalition.
In May 2016
Martin Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Austr ...
announced his third front bench.
Overview
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtà Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
is the largest opposition party in the Dáil and therefore that party's leader takes the title
Leader of the Opposition, a largely nominal role. The other parties that occupy the opposition benches include
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...
and the
United Left Alliance
The United Left Alliance ( ga, Comhaontas Aontaithe an Chlé, ULA) was an electoral alliance of left-wing political parties and independent politicians in the Republic of Ireland, formed to contest the 2011 general election. The grouping origin ...
.
The "Official Opposition" is viewed as the
party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often featur ...
tasked with keeping the government in check. It is also generally viewed as the alternative government. The Official Opposition maintains a
Front bench of TDs that often have the same portfolios as actual ministers. They are known as opposition "spokespersons".
The title of "the Opposition" is held by the largest party in
Dáil Éireann which is not in government, and sometimes the Opposition may even be the largest party in the Dáil. The latter situation almost always occurred when
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtà Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
were in opposition. This is due to the existence of the multi-party system where
Fine Gael
Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil à ...
usually forms a coalition with the
Labour Party.
Fianna Fáil Front Bench 2016–2020
Dáil Éireann
Seanad Éireann
Fianna Fáil Front Bench 2012–2016
See also
*
Fine Gael Front Bench
*
Green Party Front Bench
*
Labour Party Front Bench
*
Sinn Féin Front Bench
Sinn Féin is the second largest political party in the Oireachtas and largest in Dáil Éireann. The Sinn Féin leader appoints a team of TDs and Senators to speak for the party on different issues. Their areas of responsibility broadly corre ...
Footnotes
References
External links
Fianna Fáil spokespersons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fianna Fail Front Bench
Fianna Fáil
Front benches in the Oireachtas