Coalitions are typically formed of two or more parties always consisting of one of the two biggest parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and one or more smaller parties or independent members of parliament.

The current government consists of Fine Gael and the Labour Party.

Irish coalition governments have traditionally been based on one of two large blocs in Dáil Éireann: either Fianna Fáil in coalition with smaller parties or independents, or Fine Gael and the Labour Party in coalition, sometimes with smaller parties.

The Government of the 31st Dáil, though a traditional Fine Gael – Labour coalition, resembles a grand coalition, due to the collapse of Fianna Fáil to third place among parties in Dáil Éireann.

Canada, Ireland, and Portugal had right-wing political parties that defied categorization: the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada ; Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and Progressive Democrats in Ireland ; and the Social Democratic Party of Portugal.

With the advent of a Provisional IRA ceasefire and the beginning of what became known as the Peace Process during the 1990s, the official view of the Rising became more positive and in 1996 an 80th anniversary commemoration at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin was attended by the Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael, John Bruton.

Fine Gael ( – meaning " Family " or " Tribe of the Irish ") is a centre-right to centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland.

The party has a membership of over 35, 000, and is presently the senior partner governing in a coalition with the Labour Party, with the Fine Gael party leader Enda Kenny serving as Taoiseach.

Fine Gael was founded on 8 September 1933 following the merger of its parent party Cumann na nGaedheal, the National Centre Party and the National Guard, popularly known as the " Blueshirts " ( a name still used colloquially to refer to the party ).

Fine Gael is generally considered to be more on the political right in comparison to its more centrist rival, Fianna Fáil, but Fine Gael has never governed Ireland without the Labour Party, a social-democratic party on the centre-left of Irish politics.

Fine Gael describes itself as a " party of the progressive centre " conforming strongly to the ideals of Christian democracy and compassionate centrism, and is often seen as being moderate on social issues but conservative as regards economics.

The party's youth wing, Young Fine Gael, was formed in 1977, and has approximately four thousand members.

Fine Gael is a founding member of the European People's Party and a member of the Centrist Democrat International.

Michael Collins ( Irish leader ) | Michael Collins, founding father of the pro-Treaty movement that would become Fine Gael.

Although Ireland's political spectrum was traditionally divided along Civil War lines, rather than the traditional European left-right spectrum, Fine Gael is described generally as a centre-right, Christian democratic party, with a focus on law and order, enterprise and reward, and fiscal rectitude.

As the descendant of the pro-Treaty factions in the Irish Civil War, Fine Gael has a strong affinity with Michael Collins and his legacy.

Fine Gael has, since its inception, portrayed itself as a party of fiscal rectitude and minimal government interference in economics, advocating pro-enterprise policies.

In spite of this perceived opposition to Fine Gael from the left of the Irish political spectrum, the party, due to Dáil arithmetic, has never entered into national government without the backing of the Labour Party.

The release of equity through the sale of the various state resources, including electricity generation services belonging to the ESB, Bord na Móna and Bord Gáis, in combination with use of money in the National Pensions Reserve Fund, is the means by which Fine Gael is proposing to fund its national stimulus package.

The plan is a seen at being the basis of a Fine Gael program for government.

Fine Gael is seen as being a constitutional party, with members and public representatives always showing considerable deference to the institutional organs of the Irish state.

Former Fine Gael logo until April 2009. Fine Gael was traditionally conservative in social matters for most of the twentieth century, due to the conservative Christian ethos of Irish society during this time.

The first depiction of Terra Australis on a globe was probably on Johannes Schöner's lost 1523 globe on which Oronce Fine is thought to have based his 1531 double cordiform ( heart-shaped ) map of the world.

In January 1982, the Fine Gael-Labour government of Garret FitzGerald lost a budget vote in Dáil Éireann.

On the same day the government lost two by-elections to Fine Gael in Cork City and in Cork North – East.

Fianna Fáil lost the November 1982 election and FitzGerald once again returned as Taoiseach at the head of a Fine Gael / Labour coalition with a comfortable Dáil majority.

Fine Gael lost 9 seats while the Labour Party had its best result with 33 seats.

On 9 June 1994 Fianna Fáil lost two seats in the Mayo West by-election and the Dublin South Central by-election to the opposition Fine Gael and Democratic Left.

He lost the 1969 general election to the incumbent Jack Lynch, but won the 1973 general election and became Taoiseach in a Fine Gael-Labour Party government.

In the subsequent general election in February 1982, Fine Gael lost only two seats and were out of power.

Frances Fitzgerald dramatically lost the party's only seat at the 2002 general election, leaving Fine Gael for the first time in the constituency's history without a Fine Gael TD even though commentators regarded Dublin South – East as " natural Fine Gael " electoral territory.

Herschel Burke Gilbert and Sylvia Fine were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song for the title tune but lost to Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster for " Secret Love " from Calamity Jane.

Though regarded in politics as one of Fine Gael's " survivors ", who held onto his seat amid major boundary changes, constituency changes and by attracting working class votes in a party whose appeal was primarily middle class, Mitchell lost his Dublin Central seat at the 2002 general election.

Fine Gael failed to win re-election in the 1987 general election, and lost 20 of their 70 seats, most to the new Progressive Democrats party.

At the 1997 general election, Dukes topped the poll in the new Kildare South constituency, but Fine Gael lost power and Dukes became Chairman of the Irish Council of the European Movement.

Dukes was perceived to be a lacklustre leader however, who alienated his party's TDs and made little progress in recovering the ground lost by Fine Gael in 1987.

Fine Gael had been in decline for nearly a decade ; from the highpoint of the November 1982 general election when it achieved 70 seats in Dáil Éireann, only five seats short of Fianna Fáil's total the party had lost a considerable number of seats.

By the 1992 general election, the anti-Fianna Fáil mood in the country produced a major swing to the opposition, but that support went to Labour, not Bruton's Fine Gael, which actually lost a further 10 seats.

By the time of the 1997 general election Sinn Féin stated that they would prefer a Fianna Fáil led government and the IRA resumed their ceasefire soon after Fine Gael lost the 1997 general election.

This was the first time Fine Gael had ever defeated Fianna Fáil in a national election, as well as the first time Fianna Fáil had lost a national election since it finished second in the Irish general election, September 1927 to Cumann na nGaedheal, Fine Gael's immediate predecessor.

Fianna Fáil lost power at the 1981 general election when a short-lived Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition government took office.

When Fine Gael lost power after the 1997 general election Noonan remained an important figure in the party, taking over as spokesperson on finance.

Fine Gael lost power following the first general election in early 1982, however, Noonan subsequently joined the party's new front bench as spokesperson on Education.