Although the 1997 election saw Fine Gael make gains across the country, the Labour Party suffered at the polls and the Government failed to win enough seats to lead the country for another term.

Micheal Noonan

While John Bruton, and his successor Michael Noonan, provided the country with strong, principled opposition, Fine Gael was hampered between 1997 and 2002 due to the fact that the new Fianna Fáil/ Progressive Democrat Government had inherited a strong economy.

The incoming Government had reaped the electoral reward of buoyant Exchequer returns and, in the 2002 General Election, Fine Gael suffered at the polls, winning 31 seats on 23 per cent of the vote.

The Party endured an inordinate penalty for the loss of only 5 per cent of its vote.

Since that election, however, it has emerged that Fianna Fáil and the PDs deceived voters about the state of the economy.

In the run-up to the ballot, government spending rose by 30 per cent.

With the coalition giving away huge amounts of money - including backdated social welfare rises - within weeks of going to the polls, it is no wonder the Government was re-elected.

In the following months, massive cutbacks were instigated at every level, and satisfaction with the Government has plummeted in unprecedented fashion.

Since the 2002 election, Fine Gael has been led by Enda Kenny.

First elected to the Dáil in 1975, and a former Minister for Tourism and Trade, he has been busily engaged in the greatest re-organisation of a political party ever in Ireland's history.

Enda Kenny

New policies are being debated and published; there has been a total re-organisation at every level; and fresh blood has been brought into the Party through new, younger Front Bench members and almost 10,000 new members throughout the country.

Enda has spelled out a vision of Fine Gael as a Party of the progressive centre, that aims to bring to Irish politics the principles of equality, enterprise, reward, security for communities, integrity in public life, and hope for the future.

In June 2004, two years of intensive rebuilding and hard work paid off by spectacular performances in the European and Local Elections. Despite predictions from some that the party would lose seats, Fine Gael actually won 15 extra seats and came within a whisker of overtaking Fianna Fail as the biggest party in Local Government.

Better still, the Party was the outright winner in the European Election, winning five seats to Fianna Fail’s four- the first time Fine Gael won more seats that Fianna Fail in a national election since 1927.

Colm Burke, Avril Doyle, Jim Higgins, Mairead McGuinness and Gay Mitchell will be a force to be reckoned with in the European Parliament.

In March 2005, Fine Gael scored another notable success when its candidate, Shane McEntee, won the Meath By-Election. The By-Election was caused by the appointment of former Taoiseach John Bruton as EU Ambassador to Washington.

Again, it was the first time Fine Gael has beaten Fianna Fáil in a straight fight in Meath since 1927.

In the 2007 General Election Fine Gael enjoyed tremendous success, gaining 20 seats.

And in the European and Local Elections of 2009, Fine Gael became the biggest political party in the State.

Fine Gael remaied the largest Irish Party in Europe. The European Elections of 09 saw the Party increase its vote share by two points to 29 per-cent, a full five points ahead of our nearest rivals, Fianna Fáil.

The 2009 Local Elections were triumph for Fine Gael which became the largest party in the State, due to its vote management strategy. We claimed a 32 per-cent vote share and won 38 per-cent of the available seats.