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)

Noonan was the leader of Fine Gael.
Noonan of Fine Gael became Leader of the Opposition.
Bruton as leader was ousted with Noonan becoming leader of Fine Gael and Leader of the Opposition.

final_sentence: Noonan was the leader of Fine Gael.
final_sentence: Noonan of Fine Gael became Leader of the Opposition.
final_sentence: Bruton as leader was ousted with Noonan becoming leader of Fine Gael and Leader of the Opposition.