The 1966 Fianna Fáil leadership election in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

began in October 1966 following the decision of

Seán Lemass Seán Francis Lemass (born John Francis Lemass; 15 July 1899 – 11 May 1971) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1959 to 1966. He also served as Tánaiste from 1957 to 1959, 1951 to 1954 ...

to resign as party leader and

Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

. Lemass had occupied both posts for over seven years and, while there was no pressure on him to resign, he felt that the time was right to hand over to a new generation. His successor was elected by the members of the

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...

parliamentary party A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...

on 10 November 1966. After one ballot the election was won by

Jack Lynch John Mary Lynch (15 August 1917 – 20 October 1999) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1966 to 1973 and 1977 to 1979. He was Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1966 to 1979, Leader of the Opposition from 1973 to 1977, ...

Candidates

Standing

, Minister for Finance *

George Colley George Colley (18 October 1925 – 17 September 1983) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Tánaiste from 1977 to 1981, Minister for Energy from 1980 to 1981, Minister for Tourism and Transport from 1979 to 1980, Minister for ...

, Minister for Industry and Commerce

Withdrew from election

Charles Haughey Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who led four governments as Taoiseach: December 1979 to June 1981, March to December 1982, March 1987 to June 1989, and June 1989 to February 1992 ...

, Minister for Agriculture * Neil Blaney, Minister for Local Government

Declined to stand

The following prominent Fianna Fáil politicians were speculated upon by media organisations and were even encouraged by Lemass himself to contemplate standing for election: *

Patrick Hillery Patrick John Hillery (; 2 May 1923 – 12 April 2008) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as the sixth president of Ireland from December 1976 to December 1990. He also served as vice-president of the European Commission and Europea ...

, Minister for Labour *

Kevin Boland Kevin Boland (15 October 1917 – 23 September 2001) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Leader of Aontacht Éireann from 1971 to 1976, Minister for Social Welfare from 1961 to 1966 and 1969 to 1970, Minister for Local Governm ...

, Minister for Social Welfare * Brian Lenihan, Minister for Justice *

Donogh O'Malley Donogh Brendan O'Malley (18 January 1921 – 10 March 1968) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and rugby union player who served as Minister for Education from 1966 to 1968, Minister for Health from 1965 to 1966 and Parliamentary Secretary ...

, Minister for Health

Campaign

In October 1966 Seán Lemass decided to retire as leader of

and

. A number of factors made the decision to retire easier. Firstly he did not want to follow the example of his predecessor,

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (; ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...

, and remain in office too long. Secondly, if he remained as leader, fought another general election and lost he would have the unpalatable task of leaving office as a defeated

. Thirdly, and most importantly, the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of the

Easter Rising The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an ind ...

in 1966 marked the end of a particular chapter in

Irish history The first evidence of human presence in Ireland dates to around 34,000 years ago, with further findings dating the presence of ''Homo sapiens'' to around 10,500 to 7,000 BC. The receding of the ice after the Younger Dryas cold phase of the Qua ...

. Lemass, one of the surviving leaders of the Rising, believed that it was time for him, and some of the party's other founding-fathers, to step off the stage of history and hand over to the younger generation. The two most likely candidates to succeed Lemass were George Colley and Charles Haughey. Both men were out of the country at the time but rushed back to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

immediately to stake their claim. While both men were 41 years old and had less than ten years experience as TDs, they were, in reality, like chalk and cheese. Colley, who was the son of party elder Harry Colley, was seen as the representative of the traditional wing of the party, dedicated to its original principles like the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

. He had the support of the older members of the party such as

Frank Aiken Francis Thomas Aiken (13 February 1898 – 18 May 1983) was an Irish revolutionary and politician. He was Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army, chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army (1922–1969), Anti-Treaty IRA at the end of the I ...

. Haughey, on the other hand was considered a moderniser. The epitome of the "young man in a hurry", he had more support amongst the younger TDs. While a Colley-Haughey election seemed possible at an earlier stage, many members were unhappy about the choice that was on offer. It was reported that Lemass had already approached

and Jack Lynch in an attempt to get them to stand, however, they both told him emphatically that they weren't interested. When no other candidate seemed likely to challenge Haughey and Colley, Neil Blaney decided to enter the race with strong support from the republican wing of the party. When it looked like the election could lead to a three-way split in the party, the pressure mounted on Jack Lynch to reverse course and to allow his name to go forward. Lynch was the obvious choice to succeed Lemass. As Minister for Finance he was in charge of the most powerful ministry in the cabinet. He had nearly 20 years Dáil experience and had served in cabinet for nine consecutive years. Apart from his political record Lynch was a national sporting hero, winning

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) is a term used to describe organisations and events whose interests extend over the entire island of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Irelan ...

medals in

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

and

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

. A group of backbench TDs began a "draft Jack" campaign in the hope that he would stand for the leadership. Lynch also came under pressure from Lemass once again. Facing this pressure he finally decided that he would allow his name to go forward.

Results

Following Lynch's entry into the election, Haughey and Blaney withdrew in support of him. It seemed that Lynch would be unanimously elected as leader, however, Colley refused to withdraw and wanted to push for a vote. At the meeting of the

on 9 November the following votes were cast: To show that there were no hard feelings Lynch retained Colley in his first Cabinet. Colley in turn gave total loyalty to the new leader, and in time would become his closest ally in cabinet. Jack Lynch, while initially dismissed as a "compromise candidate" and "interim Taoiseach", went on to lead

for thirteen years. He served as

on two occasions; 1966–1973 and 1977–1979.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fianna Fail Leadership Election, 1966 1966 elections in Europe 1966 elections in the Republic of Ireland History of Fianna Fáil Jack Lynch Fianna Fáil leadership elections Indirect elections Fianna Fáil leadership election