taoiseach

plural taoiseachs · plural taoisigh

1. IrelandhistoricalA chieftain or leader.

   The first O'Donnell chieftain was Eighneachan, inaugurated in 1200, the first of an unbroken line of twenty five^([sic]) taoisigh or chieftains, the last being Niall Garbh who was inaugurated in 1603 and died in 1625.

   1998, Liam Ronayne, “The People of the Donegal Highlands”, in The Donegal Highlands, Donaghadee, County Down, Northern Ireland: Cottage Publications, →ISBN, page 74, column 1

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   Every diſtrict in the land, in which an Iriſh Taoiſeach or lord reſided, was obliged to entertain a Daniſh chief, to whom he was to ſubmit, and from whom he was to receive orders for the governing of his people; for theſe laſt would receive no commands, but directly from their own chiefs.

   1803, S[ylvester] O’Halloran, chapter III, in An Introduction to and an History of Ireland, volume III, Dublin: […] H. Fitzpatrick, […], →OCLC, page 163

   Unlike the English in their own country and in Ireland, who passed on land and political authority associated with it to the eldest male heir, the Irish elected their chiefs (taoiseachs) among the leading male members of each clan, and successors (tanistes) were chosen before the deaths of chiefs.

   1997, Lawrence J[ohn] McCaffrey, “Ireland: English Conquest and Protestant Ascendancy, 1170–1801”, in The Irish Catholic Diaspora in America, revised edition, Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, →ISBN, part I (The Irish Cultural, Political, Social, and Religious Heritages), page 17

2. IrishgovernmentAlternative letter-case form of Taoiseach (“head of the government of Ireland”).

   Everyone in the UK and Ireland should be afraid of a no-deal Brexit, the Irish taoiseach said, after he was accused of engaging in “Project Fear mark two”.

   2019 August 1, Kevin Rawlinson, “Leo Varadkar: ‘We should all be afraid of a no-deal Brexit’”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 Dec 2022

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   The only leader of the 1916 Easter rebellion to escape hanging, [Éamon d]e Valera lost the civil war, then won elections that made him taoiseach (prime minister) for 19 years.

   1954 May 31, “The Taoiseach Falls: De Valera Nears the End of Long Political Trail”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Life, volume 36, number 22, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 29, column 1

   Despite the attacks, 'the boss', as [Charles] Haughey was to become known, was elected taoiseach by 82 votes to 62. However, he was a taoiseach with strong opposition from within his own party.

   2003, Dermot Keogh, “Ireland, 1972–84”, in J[acqueline] R. Hill, editor, A New History of Ireland, volumes VII (Ireland 1921–84), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 379

   For three centuries, the fabled Round Room in Dublin's Mansion House has been the site of some of Ireland's most important gatherings. British monarchs and Irish taoiseachs, a Catholic pope and a Protestant terrorist, all have walked its halls.

   2010, David J. Lynch, “Money is Just Evidence”, in When the Luck of the Irish Ran Out: The World’s Most Resilient Country and Its Struggle to Rise Again, New York, N.Y.; Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 175

   He [Charles Haughey] was determined to seize the initiative, to paint a picture of a taoiseach forging ahead with a bold new strategy in relation to Northern Ireland – a leader, driven by an inner crusade to transform the landscape of Anglo-Irish relations.

   2016, Stephen Kelly, “The Haughey—Thatcher Relationship: The Anglo-Irish Summit Meeting, May 1980”, in ‘A Failed Political Entity’: Charles Haughey and the Northern Ireland Question 1945–1992, Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland: Merrion Press, →ISBN, page 149

   Well, I was there from 1973 to 1993, working directly with five different taoisigh, at different times, of course, as secretary to the government, or Cabinet Secretary in Robert's terms—from Sunningdale to the Downing Street Declaration.

   2020, John Coakley, Jennifer Todd, quoting Dermot Nally, “The Anglo-Irish Agreement, 1985”, in Negotiating a Settlement in Northern Ireland, 1969–2019, Oxford, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 173

plural Taoiseachs · plural Taoisigh · alternative taoiseach

1. IrishgovernmentThe head of the government of Ireland, comparable to a prime minister of a Commonwealth of Nations country.

   Although Taoisigh insist that choices are based on merit and capacity, they show a remarkable tendency to surround themselves with loyalists.

   1994, Brian Farrell, “The Political Role of Cabinet Ministers in Ireland”, in Michael Laver, Kenneth A. Shepsle, editors, Cabinet Ministers and Parliamentary Government (The Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 81

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   Article 28. […] 5. 1º The head of the Government, or Prime Minister, shall be called, and is in this Constitution referred to as, the Taoiseach. 2º The Taoiseach shall keep the President generally informed on matters of domestic and international policy.

   1937 July 1 (date ratified), “The Government”, in The Constitution of Erin, Ireland, San Francisco, Calif.: Russell Quinn, published [1938?], →OCLC, page 22

   To cope with the situation created at home by the war so close at hand, an Taoiseach (Prime Minister [Éamon] de Valera) rearranged his cabinet and formed a Ministry of Supplies under one of his ablest men.

   1940 December 7, Arthur W. Bromage, Mary C. Bromage, “Ireland—What Now?”, in The Michigan Alumnus: Quarterly Review: A Journal of University Perspectives, volume XLVII, number 10, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Alumni Association of the University of Michigan, →OCLC, page 208

   The only leader of the 1916 Easter rebellion to escape hanging, [Éamon d]e Valera lost the civil war, then won elections that made him taoiseach (prime minister) for 19 years.

   1954 May 31, “The Taoiseach Falls: De Valera Nears the End of Long Political Trail”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Life, volume 36, number 22, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 29, column 1

   The Constitution of Ireland, art. 13, requires that the President of Ireland, the formal head of state, appoints the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) on the nomination of the Dáil Eireann (a popular elected legislative Chamber of Deputies). Ther same provision also requires that the President appoints the other members of the government on the nomination of the Taoiseach with the previous approval of the Dáil.

   1983 October, Law Library, Library of Congress, “Time Span between Election or Selection of an Official and the Subsequent Taking of Office in Various Foreign Countries [Ireland]”, in Commencement of Terms of Office of the President and Members of Congress: Hearing before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-eighth Congress, Second Session on S.J. Res. 71: A Joint Resolution Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States Relative to the Commencement of the Terms of Office of the President, Vice President, and Members of Congress […] (Serial No. J-98-113), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published 24 April 1984, →OCLC, page 42

   So what if they didn't have their Christmas Eve drinks party with the two Taoiseachs? They would have the satisfaction of knowing they could have.

   1993, Mary Breasted, chapter 12, in Why Should You Doubt Me Now?, New York, N.Y.: Farrar Straus Giroux, →ISBN, page 50