Alan Dukes

Alan Martin Dukes ( Irish Ailéin de Diúc , born April 22, 1945 in Dublin ) is an Irish politician and has been a minister and chairman of Fine Gael on several occasions .

biography

From 1977 to 1981, Dukes worked for Richard Burke , Commissioner for Taxes, Customs Union and Transport of the European Communities (EC) . There he quickly gained attention for his calm and matter-of-fact approach to matters of national concern.

He began his own political career in June 1981 when he was first elected Member of the Lower House of Parliament ( Dáil Éireann ). There he represented the interests of the constituency of Kildare as a candidate for Fine Gael . On June 30, 1981, Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald appointed him Minister of Agriculture in the coalition government consisting of Fine Gael and Irish Labor Party until March 9, 1982 .

After the re-formation of the government, Prime Minister FitzGerald appointed him Finance Minister on December 14, 1982 , an office which he held until February 14, 1986. On February 14, 1986 he became Minister of Justice and held this office until March 10, 1987.

When FitzGerald unexpectedly resigned as chairman of Fine Gael on March 21, 1987 after the election defeat , Dukes was elected as his successor. It was his task to take over the party at a time of enormous internal difficulties due to the devastating election defeat in February 1987 and to overcome the serious identity crisis. Dukes, who belonged to the liberal party wing, was particularly exposed to the differences of opinion between older party members and the more liberal and social thoughts of the group around FitzGerald. However, he soon found himself exposed to internal party criticism because of his economic policies when he asked for his party's support for advocating the financial laws of the Fianna Fáil government . In the 1989 elections, Fine Gael achieved an increase in its seats in Dáil Éireann, but the very disappointing performance of Fine Gael's candidate Austin Currie in the 1990 presidential election led to Dukes' resignation as party chairman in November 1990. Successor as party chairman was then John Bruton .

Web links

• Short biography on rulers.org
• Entry on the side of the Oireachtas