Taoiseach

The **Taoiseach** (), also referred to as **An Taoiseach** (), is the head of the government in Ireland.  The term _prime minister_ is not used by the Irish media.

## Appointment

When a new Dáil Éireann meets after an election it nominates one of its members to be Taoiseach.  He then visits the President, and is appointed.  He then presents a list of ministers to the Dáil and when this is approved they are also appointed by the President.

If the Taoiseach resigns all members of the government are said to have resigned as well.  If a minister does not resign when asked by the Taoiseach, the Taoiseach can ask the President to sack the minister.  The President cannot refuse to do this.

## Department of the Taoiseach

The Department of the Taoiseach helps the Taoiseach to do his job.  The main duty of the Taoiseach is to start policy and coordinate policy of the rest of government.  Especially policies on Economic and Social Development, Northern Ireland, the European Union and Public Sector Change and Oireachtas Reform.

The Government Chief Whip, who has to make sure the government's policies and ideas are turned into law, is a part of the Taoiseach's department.

The current Taoiseach is Simon Harris since 9 April 2024.

## List

||Portrait|width=20%|Name Constituency|colspan=2 width=15%|Term of office|Party|colspan=2 width=20%|Exec. Council|colspan=2 width=15%|Vice President|Dáil (elected)||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|colspan=11|===President of the Executive Council===||||||||||||||||||
|rowspan=5||rowspan=5|**W. T. Cosgrave**|rowspan=5|1922|rowspan=5|1932|Sinn Féin|1st||style="background-color: " rowspan=5||rowspan=2|Kevin O'Higgins|3||||
|rowspan=4|Cumann na nGaedheal|2nd|rowspan=4||4||||||||||||||
|3rd|rowspan=3|Ernest Blythe|5||||||||||||||||
|4th|rowspan=2|6|||||||||||||||||
|5th|||||||||||||||||||
|rowspan=3||rowspan=3|**Éamon de Valera**|rowspan=3|1932|rowspan=3|1937|rowspan=3|Fianna Fáil|6th|rowspan=3||style="background-color: " rowspan=3||rowspan=3|Seán T. O'Kelly|7||
|7th|8||||||||||||||||||
|8th|9||||||||||||||||||
|colspan=11|===Taoiseach===||||||||||||||||||
|rowspan=4||rowspan=4|**Éamon de Valera**|rowspan=4|1937|rowspan=4|1948|rowspan=4|Fianna Fáil|1st||style="background-color: " rowspan=3||rowspan=3|Seán T. O'Kelly|9|||
|2nd||10|||||||||||||||||
|3rd||11|||||||||||||||||
|4th||style="background-color: "||Seán Lemass|12||||||||||||||
||**John A. Costello**|1948|1951|Fine Gael|5th||style="background-color: "||William Norton|13|||||||||
||**Éamon de Valera**|1951|1954|Fianna Fáil|6th||style="background-color: "||Seán Lemass|14|||||||||
||**John A. Costello**|1954|1957|Fine Gael|7th||style="background-color: "||William Norton|15|||||||||
||**Éamon de Valera**|1957|1959|Fianna Fáil|8th||style="background-color: "||Seán Lemass|rowspan=2|16||||||||
|rowspan=3||rowspan=3|**Seán Lemass**|rowspan=3|1959|rowspan=3|1966|rowspan=3|Fianna Fáil|9th||rowspan=2 style="background-color: "||rowspan=2|Seán MacEntee||||
|10th||17|||||||||||||||||
|11th||style="background-color: " rowspan="2"||rowspan=2|Frank Aiken|rowspan=2|18||||||||||||
|rowspan=2||rowspan=2|**Jack Lynch**|rowspan=2|1966|rowspan=2|1973|rowspan=2|Fianna Fáil|12th|||||||||
|13th||style="background-color: "||Erskine H. Childers|19||||||||||||||
||**Liam Cosgrave**|1973|1977|Fine Gael|14th||style="background-color: "||Brendan Corish|20|||||||||
||**Jack Lynch**|1977|1979|Fianna Fáil|15th||style="background-color: " rowspan="2"||rowspan=2|George Colley|rowspan=2|21|||||||
||**Charles Haughey**|1979|1981|Fianna Fáil|16th||||||||||||||
||**Garret FitzGerald**|1981|1982|Fine Gael|17th||style="background-color: "||Michael O'Leary|22|||||||||
||**Charles Haughey**|1982|1982|Fianna Fáil|18th||style="background-color: "||Ray MacSharry|23|||||||||
|rowspan=2||rowspan=2|**Garret FitzGerald**|rowspan=2|1982|rowspan=2|1987|rowspan=2|Fine Gael|rowspan=2|19th|rowspan=2||style="background-color: "||Dick Spring|rowspan=2|24|
|style="background-color: "||Peter Barry|||||||||||||||||
|rowspan=3||rowspan=3|**Charles Haughey**|rowspan=3|1987|rowspan=3|1992|rowspan=3|Fianna Fáil|20th||style="background-color: " rowspan="2"||rowspan=2|Brian Lenihan|25|||
|rowspan=2|21st|rowspan=2||rowspan=3|26||||||||||||||
|rowspan=2 style="background-color: "||rowspan=2|John Wilson||||||||||||||||
|rowspan=3||rowspan=3|**Albert Reynolds**|rowspan=3|1992|rowspan=3|1994|rowspan=3|Fianna Fáil|22nd|||||||||
|rowspan=2|23rd|rowspan=2||style="background-color: "||Dick Spring|rowspan=3|27|||||||||||
|style="background-color: "||Bertie Ahern|||||||||||||||||
||**John Bruton**|1994|1997|Fine Gael|24th||style="background-color: "||Dick Spring||||||||||
|rowspan=4||rowspan=4|**Bertie Ahern**|rowspan=4|1997|rowspan=4|2008|rowspan=4|Fianna Fáil|25th||rowspan=3 style="background-color: "||rowspan=2|Mary Harney|28|||
|rowspan=2|26th|rowspan=2||rowspan=2|29||||||||||||||
|Michael McDowell|||||||||||||||||||
|27th||style="background-color: "||Brian Cowen|rowspan=2|30|||||||||||||
||**Brian Cowen**|2008|2011|Fianna Fáil|28th||style="background-color: "||Mary Coughlan||||||||||
|rowspan=3||rowspan=3|**Enda Kenny**|rowspan=3|2011|rowspan=3|2017|rowspan=3|Fine Gael|rowspan=2|29th|rowspan=2||style="background-color: "||Eamon Gilmore|rowspan=2|31|
|style="background-color: "||Joan Burton|||||||||||||||||
|30th||rowspan="3" style="background-color: "||rowspan=2|Frances Fitzgerald|rowspan=3|32||||||||||||
|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|**Leo Varadkar**|rowspan="2"|2017|rowspan="2"|2020|rowspan="2"|Fine Gael|rowspan="2"|31st|rowspan="2"|||||||
|Simon Coveney|||||||||||||||||||
||**Micheál Martin**|2020||2022|Fianna Fáil|32nd||style="background-color: "||Leo Varadkar|rowspan="3"|33|||||||
|rowspan="1"||rowspan="1"|**Leo Varadkar**|rowspan="1"|2022|rowspan="1"|2024|rowspan="1"|Fine Gael|rowspan="1"|33rd||style="background-color: "||rowspan="2"|Micheál Martin|||
|rowspan="1"||rowspan="1"|**Simon Harris**|rowspan="1"|2024|rowspan="1"|Incumbent|rowspan="1"|Fine Gael|rowspan="1"|34th||style="background-color: "||||||

## Infobox (official post)

- **post**: Prime Minister of Ireland - Taoiseach
- **insignia**: Logo of the Department of the Taoiseach.svg
- **image**: Simon Harris (official portrait) 2020.jpg
- **incumbent**: Simon Harris
- **department**: Department of the Taoiseach
- **incumbentsince**: 9 April 2024
- **residence**: Steward's Lodge
- **seat**: Government Buildings,
Merrion Street, Dublin, Ireland
- **reports to**: Oireachtas
- **nominator**: Dáil Éireann
- **appointer**: President of Ireland
- **termlength**: While commanding the confidence of the majority of Dáil Éireann. No term limits are imposed on the office.
- **formation**: 29 December 1937
- **inaugural**: Éamon de Valera
- **salary**: €207,590 annually
- **deputy**: Tánaiste