List of Irish Leaders of the Opposition
Leader of the Opposition
Leaders who later became Taoiseach are indicated in bold. de

List of Irish Leaders of the Opposition

Section Title: Leader of the Opposition
Table Section Text: Leaders who later became Taoiseach are indicated in bold. de

No.	Name (Birth–Death)	Portrait	Constituency	Term of office	Party	Taoiseach

1.	Éamon de Valera (1882–1975)	-	Clare	9 January 1922	8 June 1922	Sinn Féin (Anti-Treaty)	Arthur Griffith (1922)

2.	Thomas Johnson (1872–1963)	-	Dublin County	9 September 1922	11 August 1927	Labour Party	W. T. Cosgrave (1922–32)

(1)	Éamon de Valera (1882–1975)	-	Clare	11 August 1927	9 March 1932	Fianna Fáil

3.	W. T. Cosgrave (1880–1965)	-	Cork Borough	9 March 1932	January 1944	Cumann na nGaedheal	Éamon de Valera (1932–48)

Fine Gael

4.	Thomas F. O'Higgins (1890–1953)	-	Leix–Offaly	January 1944	9 June 1944

5.	Richard Mulcahy (1886–1971)	-	Tipperary	9 June 1944	18 February 1948

(1)	Éamon de Valera (1882–1975)	-	Clare	18 February 1948	13 June 1951	Fianna Fáil	John A. Costello (1948–51)

6.	John A. Costello (1891–1976)	-	Dublin South-East	13 June 1951	2 June 1954	Fine Gael	Éamon de Valera (1951–54)

(1)	Éamon de Valera (1882–1975)	-	Clare	2 June 1954	20 March 1957	Fianna Fáil	John A. Costello (1954–57)

(6)	John A. Costello (1891–1976)	-	Dublin South-East	20 March 1957	21 October 1959	Fine Gael	Éamon de Valera (1957–59)

Seán Lemass (1959–66)

7.	James Dillon (1902–1986)	-	Monaghan	21 October 1959	21 April 1965

8.	Liam Cosgrave (1920-2017)	-	Dún Laoghaire and Rathdown	21 April 1965	14 March 1973

Jack Lynch (1966–73)

9.	Jack Lynch (1917–1999)	-	Cork City North-West	14 March 1973	5 July 1977	Fianna Fáil	Liam Cosgrave (1973–77)

10.	Garret FitzGerald (1926–2011)	-	Dublin South-East	5 July 1977	30 June 1981	Fine Gael	Jack Lynch (1977–79)

Charles Haughey (1979–81)

11.	Charles Haughey (1925–2006)	-	Dublin North-Central	30 June 1981	9 March 1982	Fianna Fáil	Garret FitzGerald (1981–82)

(10)	Garret FitzGerald (1926–2011)	-	Dublin South-East	9 March 1982	14 December 1982	Fine Gael	Charles Haughey (1982)

(11)	Charles Haughey (1925–2006)	-	Dublin North-Central	14 December 1982	10 March 1987	Fianna Fáil	Garret FitzGerald (1982–87)

12.	Alan Dukes (born 1945)	-	Kildare	10 March 1987	20 November 1990	Fine Gael	Charles Haughey (1987–92)

13.	John Bruton (born 1947)	-	Meath	20 November 1990	15 December 1994

Albert Reynolds (1992–94)

14.	Bertie Ahern (born 1951)	-	Dublin Central	15 December 1994	26 June 1997	Fianna Fáil	John Bruton (1994–97)

(13)	John Bruton (born 1947)	-	Meath	26 June 1997	9 February 2001	Fine Gael	Bertie Ahern (1997–2008)

15.	Michael Noonan (born 1943)	-	Limerick East	9 February 2001	6 June 2002

16.	Enda Kenny (born 1951)	-	Mayo	6 June 2002	9 March 2011

Brian Cowen (2008–11)

17.	Micheál Martin (born 1960)	-	Cork South-Central	9 March 2011	Incumbent	Fianna Fáil	Enda Kenny (2011–2017)

Leo Varadkar (2017–present)

Sentence(s)

James Dillon (1902 – 1986) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Leader of the Opposition from 1959 to 1965.

final_sentence: James Dillon (1902 – 1986) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Leader of the Opposition from 1959 to 1965.