Speech by An Tánaiste Simon Harris TD to mark the Centenary of the Birth of Garret FitzGerald O’Reilly Hall, UCD

PART ONE. GARRET, HIS LIFE AND HIS VALUES

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for being here with us today to commemorate the life and legacy of Garret FitzGerald.

A moderniser. An intellectual who transformed the party into a progressive, outward-looking and reforming force.

A century on, his legacy is all around us. It is there in Ireland’s place at the heart of Europe.

It is there in the principles that underpin peace and reconciliation on this island.

And it is there in a republic that is more open, more tolerant and more confident than the Ireland he was born into.

I am particularly pleased to be joined here today by Garret’s family and particularly by his son Mark, who today leads the party’s Commission on Renewal.

I first met Mark when I became Taoiseach in 2024 and we met in my office in Government Buildings.

Our meeting was about housing, Mark’s second love, after his family, of course.

But he reminded me that the historic building I am fortunate enough to occupy had served as a home away from home throughout his formative years.

Though the building had evolved considerably since his youth, its influence remained deeply woven into his character and outlook on life.

It struck something in me. Fine Gael has always been a forward-looking party, never paralysed by the past and always inspired by the possibilities of the future.

Yet looking forward never means forgetting where we have come from. Nor does it mean neglecting our responsibility to celebrate and commemorate the achievements of those who helped shape the Ireland we know today.

Today’s lecture is our way of honouring Garret and his remarkable legacy, while also reimagining his vision for a new generation.

It is an opportunity not only to reflect on his contribution, but to ask how the values and ideas he championed can help us build a better future where our people feel secure, hopeful and content, where our young people are imbued with all the possibilities and potential of youth.

To understand Garret, we must begin at the beginning.

Garret was a child of Civil War politics.

His father Desmond was a committed supporter of the Treaty, and was part of the very first delegation to London.

His mother Mabel resigned from Cumann na mBan over that same Treaty, and withdrew from public life.

The family home was divided.

Garret’s birth in 1926, the fourth and final child, was its own small act of peace and reconciliation.

From his parents, Garret learned tolerance and respect.

He grew up in a house where debate was encouraged and ideas were cherished. History and politics were all around him.

Desmond had served in the GPO in 1916, where he was put in charge of rationing the food.

He once nearly came to blows with Michael Collins, who wanted more for his troops.

Mabel was one of the leading figures in Cumann na mBan, and a brilliant strategist. She masterminded Desmond’s unexpected victory in the general election of December 1918.

So reconciliation was never a theory for Garret.

It was the lived experience of his own family, and it shaped everything he later did.

At the age of twelve he declared that his dream was to work for the new national airline, Aer Lingus. Because he saw it as a symbol of modernity and of what an independent Ireland could become.

As a hobby, he memorised airline timetables. It helped him get a job in Aer Lingus in 1947, and within three years, at the age of just twenty four, he was the one deciding the timetables.

The legend spread of his expertise on the Irish economy, and he was given a research position at Trinity College, and later a part-time teaching role at UCD.

In his latter years, he wrote more than two thousand columns for the Irish Times, and his weekly column was recognised as the most valuable commentary on the Irish economy of its day.

These days, our former leaders do podcasts but that is for another day!

He became an inspirational teacher here at UCD.

He held weekly classes in a nearby café, where students from across the College would solve the problems of the world over coffee and biscuits.

People said he was a statistician with empathy.

He believed numbers were only useful if they improved real lives.

And he believed something else.

He believed that ideas only matter when they are turned into institutions, and that democratic politics is how a country transforms itself.

This belief is the guiding principle I want the Fine Gael party I lead to embrace as we define this phase of our party.

I will expand on this later but, first, I cannot speak about Garret’s life without also saying something about the great love of his life, Joan, especially on this, the weekend of her anniversary.

They met here in UCD, and for the rest of their lives together she was his most trusted friend and adviser.

She was, in the words of one historian, the very opposite of the adoring and uncritical spouse.

Garret admired the fact that she was constantly vigilant in case he was ever tempted to compromise his principles.

Joan has been called the most influential partner of any Taoiseach in modern Irish history.

Her practicality and her directness balanced his intellect, and she deserves recognition and respect in her own right whenever we assess his legacy.

PART TWO. FINE GAEL, ITS LIFE AND ITS VALUES

Fine Gael was not an inevitable home for Garret. He had campaigned for the party in 1948, but he drifted away from it afterwards.

He voted for Seán Lemass in fact in 1961. He was even invited to join Fianna Fáil by a group that included Charles Haughey, but of course he refused.

What brought him back to Fine Gael was its ideas. A great example of the ideas abounding around the party at that time was Declan Costello’s vision of a Just Society.

Planning for a Just Society, written in 1965, said something both simple and radical.

It said that freedom and equality should not be concepts in an academic textbook, but real and tangible conditions that every citizen can enjoy.

Garret recognised his own beliefs in these words.

His curiosity, courageousness, and endless optimism brought him to Fine Gael, with the conviction that politics done well could change everything.

And that to deliver that, Fine Gael must become the vehicle for change.

A party of renewal

When Garret became leader in 1977, the transformation of our party began almost immediately. He widened the range of voices within Fine Gael.

He encouraged remarkable women like Gemma Hussey, Monica Barnes and Nuala Fennell, whose contributions modernised the party and broadened its outlook.

Some of these women he brought forward are in this room today, and I want to thank them, including my good friend, Frances Fitzgerald.

He created Young Fine Gael in 1977, and within a year more than one hundred branches had formed across the country. He did this with the express purpose of creating a thorn in his own side – he wanted young people to join a political party not just to nod along but to provoke, to prod, to propagate ideas based on their perspectives.

That movement has produced representatives and leaders for this party ever since, and I know that better than most.

So Garret’s time as Fine Gael leader was marked by a period of remarkable organisational transformation, with the purpose of making sure Fine Gael was fit to be the vehicle to make the change Ireland required.

This was a period of transformation led by Peter Prendergast as General Secretary, who unfortunately cannot join us today but has shared his thoughts on Garret’s leadership by video.

Undertaking that organisational renewal was a more straightforward enterprise in opposition, but as Party Leader, I see it as my responsibility to ensure that Fine Gael once again undertakes internal revolution so that we continue to be the political engine of Ireland’s economic and social modernity.

This renewal is already under way. We saw it in the Local Elections and the European Elections, and we saw it in the last General Election. I see it every day in the 23 new TDs and 13 new senators who make me so proud, and would have made Garret so proud, with their range of backgrounds, talents and interests.

And we saw it in the bye-elections where one of those senators bucked the trend, and then some, and our Lord Mayor built truly solid foundations for the next electoral contest.

Building on the renewal of parliamentarians we saw in the last election, I established the Commission for the Renewal of Fine Gael to provide a roadmap for the Party for the next generation, and I look forward to receiving the final report in September.

In doing that work, there is much the Commission – led by Mark FitzGerald – can learn from Garret’s time. One aspect in particular though, is openness.

I have to take a moment here when I talk about openness to condemn and genuinely lament the disheartening, retrograde and downright racist thuggery we saw take place in Northern Ireland this week.

We will forever stand against sectarianism, violence and racism.

Openness is the solution for being able to face policy challenges, without descending into division and regression.

Organisationally, openness defined Garret’s period of leadership – openness to new members, to new voices, to new big ideas, to new candidates and to perspectives that had previously been ignored.

Fine Gael was an open and welcoming house that said yes, come in and talk to us, get off the fence and get involved.

It was the Party and he was the leader that went out and sought to ensure that the best and brightest in Irish life were active in Fine Gael.

Looking forward, that is something that must feature in the forthcoming Commission report. We have amazing members, great public representatives nationally and locally, but we can admit that organisationally we have become too inwardly focused during our term in government.

For our country to make progress, Fine Gael must be the beating heart of our political system, driving big ideas, encouraging debate and new thinking.

To renew, therefore, we need, once more, to push ourselves to be more open, not only to welcome people who decide to join us but to actively go out and invite those who have a constructive, positive contribution to make, to get involved.

Across its 93-year history, Fine Gael has repeatedly renewed its vision and its values to stay relevant as Ireland changed.

A centrist, reform‑minded party, it seeks economic development, social progress, and deeper European co-operation, driving major reforms in Irish politics while balancing growth with social equity.

This clearly articulated vision has never been more important.

In a time of global uncertainty, rising tension among global powers, persistent regional instability, societal dissatisfaction and growing populism, we need a clear and clearly expressed vision for Ireland.

One that recognises our history but is bold for our future.

And one that crucially delivers for people too.

A party that delivers

Garret believed that ideas had to become institutions to make those ideas real.

While others offered easy answers, Garret insisted on facing economic reality.

His party then, and our party now, has a distrust of easy answers. We must always distrust easy answers.

His decisions were often difficult, sometimes unpopular, but they protected Ireland’s European direction and helped make the recovery that followed possible.

Fine Gael has carried that honesty about money into every government since. It is why this country could rebuild after 2011, and it is why we can invest with confidence today.

Think too of Garret’s constitutional crusade. It was not always successful in its own time, but it lit the path for everything that followed.

In 1983 it was Garret who campaigned against the wording of the Eighth Amendment, which he rightly saw as too rigid and too sectarian.

In 1985 his government expanded access to contraception, and it abolished the cruel status of illegitimacy for children born outside marriage.

In 1986 (the year I was born) he tried to remove the constitutional ban on divorce. He did so from a place of compassion, because he understood the frailties of human life.

Once again, he was ahead of his time.

It fell to a later generation of Fine Gael in government to deliver marriage equality, to repeal the Eighth Amendment and to introduce divorce, and we are proud that we did that.

That instinct, to face the hard question and deliver the practical answer, is the same instinct that drives Fine Gael in government today.

A party of this island

And, my friends, one of those questions will be the future of this island.

Garret rightly regarded the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 as his greatest achievement in politics. To understand why, you have to understand how he approached this island.

He understood the complexity of identity here in a way few politicians ever have.

When officials told him in 1973 that unionists would be reluctant to engage with Dublin, he pointed out that they were perfectly willing to engage with him.

He was the friend and champion of John Hume, and the New Ireland Forum was his signature effort to map a way forward. It set out to prove that politics, not violence, would deliver a better future for everyone who shares this island.

I know Emer Currie, though a young child, has vivid memories of Garret and her Dad, Austin, working closely together during these times.

Then came the Anglo-Irish Agreement. For the first time, it gave the Irish Government a formal role in Northern Ireland.

In return, Ireland formally recognised, in an international treaty, that Northern Ireland’s constitutional status could only change with the consent of a majority of its people. That may seem unremarkable today, but in 1985 it was anything but.

The Agreement offered hope in the bleakest of times, and it laid the foundations for the Downing Street Declaration, the ceasefires of 1994, and the Good Friday Agreement.

Peace on this island rests on the ground that Garret cleared.

That legacy is not history alone. It remains a living challenge to all of us today.

Change will take time. It must be inclusive, recognising that change will involve sometimes painful steps for all.

It cannot involve politically driven unrealistic deadlines.

Last September I stood with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at Hillsborough Castle, the very place where the Anglo-Irish Agreement was signed, to announce our Joint Framework on the Legacy of the Troubles.

Like that Agreement, it is the product of painstaking negotiation and honest compromise, in the service of families who have waited far too long for truth.

As Leader of Fine Gael, I believe we must now engage seriously, responsibly and respectfully with the future of this island, particularly as we fast approach the thirtieth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which will be a significant moment during my next tenure as Taoiseach.

We cannot be passive observers to change.

Nor can we approach questions on the future constitutional status of this Island through slogans, sentimentality, or simplistic assumptions, as some other political parties on this island do.

If constitutional change is to happen, it must be prepared for, carefully, honestly and inclusively.

It must involve listening. Listening to you, the members of Fine Gael.

Listening to people north and south.

Listening to all traditions – as we have done through the successful ‘Shared Island Initiative’.

Preparing for constitutional change in our time.

I believe all political parties are duty bound to make a positive, credible contribution in these preparations.

Some will suggest this is not the right time. I would strongly refute that. This conversation is an essential step in building a new and better Ireland.

That is why today, I am announcing that Fine Gael will develop a new blueprint for a Unified Island for our Ard Fheis this November

The work will be led by the Fine Gael Northern Ireland Engagement Group and facilitated by the very excellent, academic Professor Deirdre Heenan.

This vision will define what a unified Ireland could mean in practical terms, politically, economically and societally.

It will be informed by research and evidence and shaped by meaning engagement with communities north and south of the border.

It will examine fiscal implications, public services and the economic opportunities that could arise from unity, including all-island infrastructure, labour mobility, and EU market access.

The paper will reflect our Fine Gael party’s approach, characterised by:

Pragmatism over rhetoric;

Respect for law, institutions and international agreements;

Emphasis on preparation, reassurance and economic credibility.

We will listen to all traditions on this island.

We will ask the difficult questions, and we will answer them honestly.

Because the future of this island cannot be built on slogans or assumptions.

The Good Friday Agreement provides a democratic pathway for constitutional change, should that be the will of the people.

Our responsibility is to ensure that any discussion about the future is informed, inclusive and grounded in reality.

Fine Gael believes in reconciliation, not triumphalism, that persuasion must come before politics, and that respect must be at the heart of every conversation.

Our objective is not simply to debate the future of the island. It is to help shape a future in which every tradition, every identity and every community can feel valued, protected and at home.

Unity, not as an event, but as a process requiring leadership, planning and patience.

Fundamentally we want a united, working island with long-term durable consent.

This work is the necessary groundwork we need to do to develop unity of purpose, unity of vision and unity of our island.

That work begins now.

Because Garret taught us that the constitutional question can never be separated from relationships, identity, belonging and trust.

Our goal is an Ireland where we unite our people rather than divide them for our own political gain.

A party of Europe

Garret was a European long before the benefits of membership were recognised or understood.

In 1954 he co-founded the Irish Council of the European Movement in the Shelbourne Hotel, helping to lay the foundation stone for our membership of the European Community in 1973.

During the membership debates he was challenged in London by a veteran journalist, A.P. Ryan, who had interviewed his father during the War of Independence.

Desmond had fought for Irish sovereignty, Ryan said, so why was his son now so determined to give it away?

Garret’s answer resonates as much in 2026 as it did then.

Membership did not mean losing our sovereignty, it meant pooling it, and it would transform our economy and our entire future.

Garret saw clearly that Europe strengthened rather than diminished Irish identity, because it challenged us to be ambitious about the kind of country we wanted to become – abolition of the marriage bar, equal pay and enhanced workplace protections – a more just society as I mentioned earlier.

In a few short weeks, this country will take on its eighth Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

We will use the voice Garret gave us to help build a stronger, more united and more resilient Europe.

This week we launched Ireland’s Presidency priorities which are focused on the themes of competitiveness, values and security.

And what strikes me is how they are inextricably linked.

Because a Europe that cannot compete economically will struggle to protect its citizens.

A Europe that cannot guarantee its security cannot uphold democratic values.

For Fine Gael, and for our family in the European People’s Party, these priorities are not abstract concepts.

They reflect a belief in a Europe that is economically strong, strategically secure, and unwavering in its commitment to democracy, freedom and the rule of law.

Sovereignty and security are concepts that cannot be narrowly defined.

‘Ourselves alone’ is an unworkable concept for smaller and middle powers, as elucidated earlier this year by Prime Minister Carney who is visiting as we meet today.

That is clear when it comes to economic security, it’s clear when it comes to energy security, and when it comes to welcoming new members to the European Union.

These are not acts of idealism, they are acts of strategic necessity.

Garret understood that Europe succeeds when it is bold enough to shape events, rather than merely react to them.

At a time of growing geopolitical instability and rising global tensions, it is essential that Europe strengthens its defence capabilities and deepens cooperation among its member states.

Security is the foundation upon which prosperity, opportunity and sovereignty are built.

Ireland can fully honour our rightly cherished military neutrality, while also fully expressing our sovereignty by legislating to remove the Triple Lock.

This is the right thing to do in our changed world, and I commend Minister Helen McEntee for advancing this essential reform.

Economically, there are significant decisions that need to be taken in the months ahead. A major priority will be the further development of the Savings and Investments Union, or SIU.

A stronger SIU can widen funding sources for businesses, strengthen Europe’s resilience, support the green and digital transitions, and improve financial outcomes for citizens.

In the months of the Presidency, we have an opportunity to be true leaders on the EU agenda on competitiveness, productivity and completion of the Single Market, in order to enhance growth and economic opportunities across the Union.

PART THREE. FINE GAEL AND THE FUTURE

Let me finish where Garret would want me to finish.

Not in the past, but in the future.

In 1969 Fine Gael went to the country with a manifesto called Winning a Just Society, building on Declan Costello’s original vision.

I have been rereading it.

It argued that under modern conditions, progress could not be achieved haphazardly, by waiting for things to happen. There must be planning. Then there must be delivery on those plans.

And it set a target that seemed almost impossible at the time. To reach full employment, Ireland would need to create about seven thousand new jobs every single year.

Seven thousand. That was the very height of national ambition as Garret entered the Dáil.

Now consider what Fine Gael in government has actually delivered. Since 2011, nine hundred and ninety thousand new jobs have been created in this country.

That is around sixty six thousand new jobs every year. It is more than nine times the dream of the Just Society generation, sustained for a decade and a half.

We did not get there by accident. We got there the way Garret always said we would, through planning, through Europe, and through backing enterprise while protecting people.

Yes, we have challenges. Serious ones. Perhaps the greatest challenge is we are grappling with is an implementation gap that is hindering delivery. Fine Gael in this Government is determined that is a challenge we will meet head on and changed for good.

And we should not confuse challenges with failure.

Garret would be the first to say that yesterday’s targets are not enough. He never confused celebrating progress with completing it.

So Fine Gael is now doing what Garret and the Just Society generation did before us. We are planning seriously and honestly for the Ireland of the decades ahead.

Ireland is changing. So must politics. Progress should be felt, not just promised. Fine Gael exists to close the gap between what Ireland can be and what people actually experience.

We drive reform that works—faster, fairer, closer to the ground. And we renew ourselves as we go: listening harder, acting sooner, opening the party to the Ireland that’s emerging.

That is what a Just Society means in this century. That is what a Just Society means to Fine Gael today. The same values Garret fought for, applied to challenges that not even he could yet see.

CONCLUSION

Throughout his life, Garret FitzGerald challenged us as a country and as a people. To be more confident, more open, more tolerant, more European and more hopeful.

He still challenges us today.

He showed that real leadership means doing what is right, even when it is difficult or unpopular.

He listened to those who disagreed with him, and he sought common ground when others preached division.

He looked beyond the headlines and beyond short-term politics, and he acted for the long-term good of the country. In an age of polarisation, we can learn much from his belief in dialogue, respect, integrity and compassion.

These are the values that will ground me in the time ahead.

When Garret died in 2011, President Obama paid him a remarkable tribute. He described him as someone who believed in the power of education, in the potential of youth, and most of all in the potential of peace, and who lived to see that peace realised.

We are guided by the same core principles that guided Garret for so many years. To do everything possible to help others, and to leave our country stronger, fairer, more peaceful and more hopeful for the generations that follow.

In the 1980s, because he showed that politics could be about helping others rather than advancing yourself, he was known as Garret the Good.

Today, as we mark his centenary and recognise the extraordinary legacy that is all around us, we can know him better. We can know him as Garret the Great.

Thank you for your time and attention.