Date formed 14 December 1982 Head of government Garret FitzGerald Total no. of ministers 15 | Date dissolved 10 March 1987 Head of state Patrick Hillery | |
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Deputy head of government Dick Spring (1982–87)
Peter Barry (1987) | ||
The 24th Dáil was elected at the second general election of 1982 on 24 November 1982 and first met on 14 December when the 19th Government of Ireland was appointed. The 24th Dáil lasted for 1,546 days.
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The government resorted to high marginal tax rates to curb the national debt, which had increased when spending commitments accrued under the 1977–81 government's expansion of the public sector became unsustainable after the 1979 energy crisis. High taxes and high unemployment brought a return to high net emigration, a long-established Irish flow which had temporarily reversed in the 1970s. An economic policy document, "Building on reality", was published in 1984.
The "republican crusade" flagged by Garret Fitzgerald in 1981 saw some changes in policy on Northern Ireland and social issues. In the former, the government's New Ireland Forum was a prelude to the Anglo-Irish Agreement signed in 1985. In the latter, a referendum to ease the ban on divorce was defeated in 1986, while a bill to ease restrictions on contraception, passed in 1985, was supported by Desmond O'Malley, expelled as a result from Fianna Fáil.
19th Government of Ireland
The 19th Government of Ireland (14 December 1982 – 10 March 1987) was formed by Fine Gael and the Labour Party.