Date formed 15 December 1994 Head of government John Bruton Head of state Mary Robinson | Date dissolved 26 June 1997 Deputy head of government Dick Spring Total no. of ministers 15 | |
The 24th Government of Ireland (15 December 1994 – 26 June 1997) was the 2nd Government of the 27th Dáil. Known as the Rainbow Coalition, it was a coalition of Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Democratic Left. The Labour Party had formed the 23rd Government with Fianna Fáil after the 1992 general election, but left in 1994 following a number of scandals, particularly over the beef industry and the alleged mishandling of the prosecution of paedophile priest Brendan Smyth. After Albert Reynolds was replaced by Bertie Ahern as Fianna Fáil leader, there was speculation that Labour would rejoin Fianna Fáil in government, but instead it joined with two opposition parties. By-election gains since 1992 meant the three now had enough TDs for an overall majority. This was the first time in Irish political history that a party had left a governing coalition and gone into government with opposition parties without first holding a general election.