Minister for Finance (Ireland)

Minister for Finance
Minister for Finance
	Incumbent; Paschal Donohoe; since 14 June 2017
	Department of Finance
Member of	Cabinet; Eurogroup; Council of the European Union; Dáil Éireann;
Reports to	Taoiseach
Seat	Government Buildings,; Merrion Street, Dublin, Ireland
Appointer	President of Ireland on the nomination of the Taoiseach
Inaugural holder	Eoin MacNeill
Formation	22 January 1919
Website	Department of Finance

The Minister for Finance (Irish: An tAire Airgeadais) is the senior minister at the Department of Finance in the Government of Ireland. The minister is responsible for all financial and monetary matters of the state, and is considered the second most important member of the Government of Ireland, after the Taoiseach.

The current office holder is Paschal Donohoe, TD.^[1]

Overview

Government Buildings, Dublin, is the location of the Department of Finance

The Minister for Finance holds the second most important ministerial position in the Irish Cabinet after that of the Taoiseach. He or she is in charge of the Department of Finance responsible for all financial matters in the Republic of Ireland. It the is one of three positions in the government which the Constitution requires to be a member of Dáil Éireann, the other two being Taoiseach and Tánaiste. Many Ministers who have held the Finance portfolio have gone on to become Taoiseach, including Jack Lynch, Charles Haughey, Albert Reynolds, John Bruton, Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen.

The department and minister are occasionally called the Irish Exchequer (or simply the Exchequer), a term previously used under the Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland.

Budget

One of the most important aspects of the Minister's work is the creation of the annual Budget which is announced to the Dáil in a speech, which must be delivered before 15 October due to the Two-Pack agreement. In the budget the Minister details the Government's spending programme for the coming year. The budget consists of:

a Financial Statement to the Dáil,
Budgetary Measures (a list of budgetary changes detailing the cost/yield of same),
Budget statistics, and
financial resolutions.

Minister for Finance since 1919

Denotes acting Minister for Finance

No.	Name	Term of office		Party		Government(s)^[a]
1	Eoin MacNeill	22 January 1919	1 April 1919 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #326760;" data-sort-value="Sinn Féin" \|	Sinn Féin	1st DM
2	Michael Collins	2 April 1919	22 August 1922 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #326760;" data-sort-value="Sinn Féin" \|	Sinn Féin	2nd DM · 3rd DM · 4th DM · 1st PG
3	W. T. Cosgrave (acting)	17 July 1922	21 September 1923	style="background-color: Template:Cumann na nGaedheal/meta/color" \|	Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin	1st PG · 2nd PG · 5th DM · 1st EC
4	Ernest Blythe	21 September 1923	9 March 1932 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #87CEFA;" data-sort-value="Cumann na nGaedheal" \|	Cumann na nGaedheal	2nd EC · 3rd EC · 4th EC · 5th EC
5	Seán MacEntee	9 March 1932	16 September 1939 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	6th EC · 7th EC · 8th EC · 1st · 2nd
6	Seán T. O'Kelly	16 September 1939	14 June 1945 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	2nd · 3rd · 4th
7	Frank Aiken	19 June 1945	18 February 1948 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	4th
8	Patrick McGilligan	18 February 1948	13 June 1951 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #6699FF;" data-sort-value="Fine Gael" \|	Fine Gael	5th
(5.)	Seán MacEntee	13 June 1951	2 June 1954 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	6th
9	Gerard Sweetman	2 June 1954	20 March 1957 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #6699FF;" data-sort-value="Fine Gael" \|	Fine Gael	7th
10	James Ryan	20 March 1957	21 April 1965 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	8th · 9th · 10th
11	Jack Lynch	21 April 1965	10 November 1966 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	11th
12	Charles Haughey	10 November 1966	7 May 1970 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	12th · 13th
13	George Colley	9 May 1970	14 March 1973 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	13th
14	Richie Ryan^[b]	14 March 1973	5 July 1977 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #6699FF;" data-sort-value="Fine Gael" \|	Fine Gael	14th
(13.)	George Colley^[c]	5 July 1977	11 December 1979 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	15th
15	Michael O'Kennedy^[c]	12 December 1979	16 December 1980 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	16th
16	Gene Fitzgerald^[c]	16 December 1980	30 June 1981 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	16th
17	John Bruton	30 June 1981	9 March 1982 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #6699FF;" data-sort-value="Fine Gael" \|	Fine Gael	17th
18	Ray MacSharry	9 March 1982	14 December 1982 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	18th
19	Alan Dukes	14 December 1982	14 February 1986 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #6699FF;" data-sort-value="Fine Gael" \|	Fine Gael	19th
(17)	John Bruton^[d]	14 February 1986	10 March 1987 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #6699FF;" data-sort-value="Fine Gael" \|	Fine Gael	19th
(18)	Ray MacSharry^[e]	10 March 1987	24 November 1988 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	20th
20	Albert Reynolds	24 November 1988	7 November 1991 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	20th · 21st
	Charles Haughey (acting)	7 November 1991	14 November 1991 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	21st
21	Bertie Ahern	14 November 1991	15 December 1994 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	21st · 22nd · 23rd
22	Ruairi Quinn	15 December 1994	26 June 1997 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #CC0000;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (Ireland)" \|	Labour	24th
23	Charlie McCreevy	26 June 1997	29 September 2004 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	25th · 26th
24	Brian Cowen	29 September 2004	7 May 2008 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	26th · 27th
25	Brian Lenihan	7 May 2008	9 March 2011 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil	28th
26	Michael Noonan	9 March 2011	14 June 2017 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #6699FF;" data-sort-value="Fine Gael" \|	Fine Gael	29th · 30th
27	Paschal Donohoe^[f]	14 June 2017	Incumbent style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #6699FF;" data-sort-value="Fine Gael" \|	Fine Gael	31st · 32nd

^ Before 1937: DM – Dáil Ministry; PG – Provisional Government; EC – Executive Council.
^ Also Minister for the Public Service from 1 November 1973, on the creation of the new department.
^ ^a ^b ^c Also Minister for the Public Service.
^ Also Minister for the Public Service from 20 January to 20 March 1987, after the resignation of the Labour Party ministers from government.
^ Also Minister for the Public Service until 20 March 1987, when the functions of the department were transferred to the Department of Finance.
^ Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform from 6 May 2016 to 27 June 2020.

References

^ "List of Ministers and Ministers of State", Government of Ireland, retrieved 28 June 2020

External links

Department of Finance

[2] Before 1937: DM – Dáil Ministry; PG – Provisional Government; EC – Executive Council.

[3] Also Minister for the Public Service from 1 November 1973, on the creation of the new department.

[publicservice-4] Also Minister for the Public Service.

[5] Also Minister for the Public Service from 20 January to 20 March 1987, after the resignation of the Labour Party ministers from government.

[6] Also Minister for the Public Service until 20 March 1987, when the functions of the department were transferred to the Department of Finance.

[7] Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform from 6 May 2016 to 27 June 2020.

[currentgov-1] "List of Ministers and Ministers of State", Government of Ireland, retrieved 28 June 2020

[1]

[a]

[b]

[c]

[d]

[e]

[f]

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Overview

Budget

Minister for Finance since 1919

See also

References

External links