Word: gael
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...three weeks after Ireland's inconclusive general election, incumbent Prime Minister Charles Haughey and Opposition Leader Garret FitzGerald raced to form a new government. Last week FitzGerald won. He crafted an ingenious pact between his own pro-business Fine Gael (Family of the Irish) party and the ideologically distant, pro-union Labor Party. The result: a razor-thin majority of three seats in the Irish Dáil (parliament)-and a coalition so vulnerable it will take all of FitzGerald's wizardry just to last out the summer...
...sprinted into the lead like an Irish steeplechaser in a field of Clydesdales. But then the jumps got higher. Undercut by the tensions in Northern Ireland and voter discontent over inflation (21%) and unemployment (11%), Haughey saw his lead evaporate. A strong finish by the opposition Fine Gael (Family of the Irish) party, headed by former Foreign Minister Garret Fitzgerald, 54, turned the contest into Ireland's closest election in 20 years. Result: an inconclusive draw with every prospect of a prolonged crisis as each of the contenders tries to form a new government...
After last week's opening round of bargaining to piece together a coalition, Fitzgerald seemed to have a slight edge. Haughey and Fianna Fáil had won 78 of the 166 seats in the new Dáil (parliament), compared with Fine Gael's 65. The balance of power lay with the small Labor Party (15 seats), whose new leader, Michael O'Leary, showed a marked distaste for the outgoing Haughey government. It would be "very remarkable indeed," O'Leary said, if his party linked up with Fianna Fáil. On the other hand...