Leadership of Fine Gael
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. Outgoing Taoiseach and leader Garret FitzGerald stepped down and Dukes was elected leader of Fine Gael. He also became Leader of the Opposition.
This was a difficult time for the country. Haughey's Fianna Fáil had fought the election on promises to increase spending and government services, and by attacking the cutbacks favoured by Fine Gael. The campaign produced the famous Fianna Fáil slogan that cuts in health spending affect the "old, the sick and the handicapped". However on taking office, the new Taoiseach and his Finance Minister Ray MacSharry immediately drew up a drastic set of cutbacks including a spate of ward and hospital closures. This presented a political opportunity for the opposition to attack the government.
However addressing a meeting of the Tallaght Chamber of Commerce, Dukes announced that:
| “ | When the Government is moving in the right direction, I will not oppose the central thrust of its policy. If it is going in the right direction, I do not believe that it should be deviated from its course, or tripped up on macro-economic issues. | ” |
This bold step became known as the Tallaght Strategy, and represented a major departure in Irish politics whereby Fine Gael would vote with the minority Fianna Fáil Government if it adopted Fine Gael's economic policies for revitalising the economy.
The consequences of this statement were huge. The Haughey government was able to take severe corrective steps to restructure the economy and lay the foundations for the economic boom of the nineties. However, at a snap election in 1989 Dukes did not receive electoral credit for his statesmanlike approach, and the party only made minor gains, reclaiming 5 of the 20 lost seats. The outcome was the first ever coalition government for Fianna Fáil, whose junior partner were the Progressive Democrats led by former Fianna Fáil TD Desmond O'Malley.
Read more about this topic: Alan Dukes
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