Republic of Ireland

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The Opposition Front Bench in the Republic of Ireland is a group of senior parliamentary opposition Teachtaí Dála (TDs) who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's. These members are assigned a particular portfolio and mark each individual member of the government. Members of the Opposition are often but not always appointed to a Cabinet post if and when their party gets into government.

Fine Gael is the largest opposition party in the Dáil and therefore that party's leader takes the title Leader of the Opposition, a largely nominal role. The other parties that occupy the opposition benches include the Labour Party and Sinn Féin.

The "Official Opposition" is viewed as the party tasked with keeping the government in check. It is also generally viewed as the alternative government. The Official Opposition maintains a Front bench of TDs that often have the same portfolios as actual ministers. They are known as opposition "spokespersons".

The title of "the Opposition" is held by the largest party in Dáil Éireann which is not in government, and sometimes the Opposition may even be the largest party in the Dáil. The latter situation almost always occurs when Fianna Fáil are in opposition. This is due to the existence of the multi-party system where Fine Gael usually forms a coalition with the Labour Party.

Official Opposition		Years
	Labour Party	1922–1927
	Fianna Fáil	1927–1932
	Cumann na nGaedhael	1932–1933
	Fine Gael	1933–1948
	Fianna Fáil	1948–1951
	Fine Gael	1951–1954
	Fianna Fáil	1954–1957
	Fine Gael	1957–1973
	Fianna Fáil	1973–1977
	Fine Gael	1977–1981
	Fianna Fáil	1981–1982
	Fine Gael	1982
	Fianna Fáil	1982–1987
	Fine Gael	1987–1994
	Fianna Fáil	1994–1997
	Fine Gael	1997–

Contents 1 Opposition Front Bench 1.1 Front Bench Spokespersons 1.2 Deputy Spokespersons 2 External links

[edit] Opposition Front Bench

[edit] Front Bench Spokespersons

Portfolio	Opposition Spokesperson
Leader of the Opposition, Northern Ireland	Enda Kenny	2002–
Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Finance	Richard Bruton	2002–
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food	Michael Creed	2007–
Arts, Sport and Tourism	Olivia Mitchell	2007–
Children	Alan Shatter	2007–
Communications, Energy and Natural Resources	Simon Coveney	2007–
Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs	Michael Ring	2007–
Defence	Jimmy Deenihan	2007–
Education and Science	Brian Hayes	2007–
Enterprise, Trade and Employment	Leo Varadkar	2007–
Environment, Heritage and Local Government	Phil Hogan	2007–
Foreign Affairs	Billy Timmins	2007–
Health	James Reilly	2007–
Immigration and Integration	Denis Naughten	2007–
Justice, Equality and Law Reform	Charles Flanagan	2007–
Social and Family Affairs	Olwyn Enright	2007–
Transport and Marine	Fergus O'Dowd	2007–
Chief Whip	Paul Kehoe	2004–
Seanad leader	Frances Fitzgerald	2007–

[edit] Deputy Spokespersons

Portfolio	Deputy Spokesperson
Assistant Chief Whip (Dáil Reform) with special responsibility for Disability Issues	David Stanton
Agriculture with special responsibility for Fisheries	Tom Sheahan
Agriculture with special responsibility for Food and Horticulture	Andrew Doyle
Agriculture with special responsibility for Forestry	P. J. Sheehan
Arts, Sport and Tourism with special responsibility for Sport	John O'Mahony
Communications, Energy and Natural Resources with special responsibility for Telecommunications	Noel Coonan
Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs with special responsibility for Gaeltacht Affairs	Dinny McGinley
Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs with special responsibility for National Drugs Strategy	Catherine Byrne
Education with special responsibility for Lifelong Learning	Ulick Burke
Enterprise with special responsibility for Innovation	Deirdre Clune
Enterprise with special responsibility for Labour Affairs and Small Business	Damien English
Environment with special responsibility for Heritage	James Bannon
Environment with special responsibility for Housing	Terence Flanagan
Finance with special responsibility for FOI, Procurement Reform and the Office of Public Works	Kieran O'Donnell
Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for European Affairs	Lucinda Creighton
Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for Human Rights	Pat Breen
Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for Overseas Development Aid	John Deasy
Foreign Affairs and Department of the Taoiseach with special responsibility for North-South Co-operation	Joe McHugh
Health with special responsibility for Mental Health	Dan Neville
Health with special responsibility for Older People	Paul Connaughton
Justice with special responsibility for Equality	Michael W. D'Arcy
Justice with special responsibility for Juvenile Justice	Joe Carey
Transport with special responsibility for Road Safety	Shane McEntee
Transport and Education with special responsibility for Rural and School Transport	Frank Feighan

[edit] External links

• "Fine Gael Front Bench". Fine Gael website. http://www.finegael.org/people/b/. Retrieved 12 September 2009.