IV.

Coalition Governments

Haughey led two of the most controversial administrations in recent Irish political history in the early 1980s. After a series of scandals, Fianna Fáil was defeated in the 1982 general election. Unable to achieve an overall majority, Haughey entered into a coalition in the late 1980s, for the first time in the party’s history, with the Progressive Democrats. Haughey was forced to resign from office in 1992 and replaced by Albert Reynolds. Under Reynolds’ Fianna Fáil/Labour Party coalition government (1993-1994) the early stages of the Northern Ireland peace process were facilitated. After the collapse of this coalition in November 1994, Reynolds was succeeded as Fianna Fáil leader by the former finance minister Bertie Ahern, and as prime minister by John Bruton, leader of the Fine Gael party.

Fianna Fáil remained in opposition until June 1997, when Bruton called elections due to declining popularity and a scandal involving large cash donations to members of parliament, including members of both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. In the June 6 elections, a coalition of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats won 81 seats in the 166-member lower house, compared to 75 seats won by the three-party coalition government headed by Fine Gael. Although neither party achieved an overall majority, Fianna Fáil leader Bertie Ahern became the new prime minister. He formed a coalition government with the Progressive Democratic Party.

Ahern participated, along with British prime minister Tony Blair, in negotiations intended to bring peace to Northern Ireland. In 1998 he signed the Good Friday Agreement, a plan for power-sharing between Catholic and Protestant factions in Northern Ireland. The plan finally took effect in 2007. Ahern again led Fianna Fáil to victory in parliamentary elections in 2002 and 2007, although the party failed to win an absolute majority either time.