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Alan Dukes (born April 20, 1945) is an Irish politician, a former leader of the Fine Gael political party and former TD for Kildare South. He holds the distinction of being one of only five TDs to be appointed Minister on their first day in the Dáil. He lost his seat in the 2002 Irish general election, and has since become Director General of the Institute of European Affairs.

Contents 1 Early Life 2 Career Before Politics 3 Early Political Career 4 Leadership of Fine Gael 5 1990 Presidential Election and loss of the leadership 6 Rainbow Coalition 7 Career Post-politics 8 Personal life 9 Political career

Alan Dukes was born in south Dublin in 1945. His father was a civil servant originally from Kerry, while his mother was from near Ballina, Co. Mayo. Alan was educated by the Christian Brothers at the O'Connell Schools and was offered a number of scholarships for third level on graduation, including one for the Irish language. His interest in the Irish language continues to this day, and he regularly appears on Irish language television programmes.

On leaving school, Alan attended University College Dublin.

In 1969 he became an economist with the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) in Dublin. After Ireland joined the EEC in 1973, he moved to Brussels where he was part of the IFA's delegation. In this role he was influential in framing Ireland's contribution to the Common Agriculture Policy.

He moved on from this IFA position to become chief of staff to Ireland's EEC commissioner Dick Burke, a former Fine Gael politician.

In 1979 Dukes stood as a Fine Gael candidate in the European elections in the Munster constituency. He was on course to be elected thanks to strong farming support until the entry of farming leader TJ Maher as an independent candidate. Maher subsequently topped the poll.

He stood again for Fine Gael in the 1981 general election in the expanded constituency of Kildare where he won a seat and was elected to Dáil Éireann. On his first day in the Dáil he was appointed Minister for Agriculture by the new Taoiseach - Garret FitzGerald, becoming one of only five TD's so appointed. He held this seat for 21 years.

This minority Fine Gael\Labour coalition government collapsed in February 1982 over controversial budget reforms, but returned to power with a working majority in December of that year. Dukes was again called into the cabinet becoming Minister for Finance less than two years into his Dáil career.

He faced a difficult task as Finance Minister at this time. Ireland was heavily in debt while unemployment and emigration were high. Many of Fine Gael's ambitious plans had to be deferred while the Fine Gael/Labour coalition disagreed on how to solve the economic crisis. The challenge of addressing the national finances was made difficult by electoral arithmetic and a lack of support from the opposition Fianna Fáil party lead by Charles J. Haughey.

Dukes remained in the Department of Finance until the withdrawl of the Labour members from the government in 1986. As part of the subsequent reshuffle, he was appointed Minister for Justice.

Fine Gael failed to win re-election in the 1987 general election, and lost 20 of their 70 seats, most to the new Progressive Democrats party. Outgoing Taoiseach and leader Garret FitzGerald stepped down and Dukes was elected leader of Fine Gael. He also became Leader of the Opposition.

This was a difficult time for the country. Haughey's Fianna Fáil had fought the election on promises to increase spending and government services, and by attacking the cutbacks favoured by Fine Gael. The campaign produced the famous FF slogan that cuts in health spending affect the "old, the sick and the handicapped". However on taking office, the new Taoiseach and his Finance Minister Ray MacSharry immediately drew up a drastic set of cutbacks including a spate of ward and hospital closures. This presented a political opportunity for the oppoisition to attack the government.

However addressing a meeting of the Tallaght Chamber of Commerce, Dukes announced that "When the Government is moving in the right direction, I will not oppose the central thrust of its policy. If it is going in the right direction, I do not believe that it should be deviated from its course, or tripped up on macro-economic issues". This bold step became known as the Tallaght Strategy, and represented a major departure in Irish politics whereby Fine Gael would vote with the minority Fianna Fáil Government if it adopted Fine Gael's economic policies for revitalising the economy.

The consequences of this statement were huge. The Haughey government was able to take severe corrective steps to restructure the economy and lay the foundations for the economic boom of the nineties. However, at a snap election in 1989 Dukes did not receive electoral credit for his statesmanlike approach, and the party only made minor gains, reclaiming 5 of the 20 lost seats. The outcome was the first ever coalition government for Fianna Fáil, whose junior partner were the Progressive Democrats lead by former FF TD Desmond O'Malley.

Dukes received little credit for the Tallaght Strategy, and the party's failure to make significant gains in 1989 left some Fine Gael TDs with a desire for a change at the top. Their opportunity came in the wake of the historic 1990 presidential election. Fine Gael chose TD Austin Currie as their candidate. He had been a leading member of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights movement in the 1960's and had been a member of the SDLP party before moving south.

Initially, Fianna Fáil's Brian Lenihan had been favourite to win, however after a number of controversies arising from the brief FF administration of 1981-82, and Lenihan's dismissal as Minister for Defence mid-way through the campaign, the Labour party's Mary Robinson emerged victorious. To many in Fine Gael, the humiliation of finishing third was too much to bear and a heave was launced against Dukes. He was subsequently replaced as party leader by John Bruton.

In September 1992 the new leader, John Bruton, brought him back to the front bench. In February 1994 he became involved in a failed attempt to oust Bruton as leader and subsequently Dukes resigned from the front bench. In December 1994 Bruton became Taoiseach and Dukes failed to secure a ministerial position despite being one of the most high profile and experience members of Fine Gael.

Two years later in December 1996 Dukes returned as Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications following the resignation of Michael Lowry. In 1997, Dukes topped the poll in the new constituency of Kildare South, however Fine Gael lost power and Dukes became Chairman of the Irish Council of the European Movement. In this position he was very involved in advising many of the Eastern European who were then applying to the European Union.

In 2001 he backed Michael Noonan in his bid to become leader of Fine Gael. Noonan was successful.

After 21 years, Dukes lost his Dáil seat in the general election of 2002. This contest saw many high profile casualties for Fine Gael, including Deputy Leader Jim Mitchell, former Deputy Leader Nora Owen and others. Many local commentators felt that the loss was down to a lack of attention to local issues, as Dukes was highly involved in European projects and had always enjoyed a national profile.

He retired from politics in 2002, and was subsequently appointed Director General of the Institute of European Affairs. He is still active in Fine Gael and is currently the party's national Vice-President.

Alan has lived in Kildare Town since first being elected to represent the Kildare constituency in 1981. His wife Fionnuala is a local politician and has been a member of Kildare County Council since 1999. She served as the county's mayor in 2006-7, becoming only the second woman to hold the position in the body's hundred year history. They have two daughters, neither of whom are politically active.

Political offices
Preceded by Ray MacSharry	Minister for Agriculture 1981–1982	Succeeded by Brian Lenihan
	Minister for Finance 1982–1986	Succeeded by John Bruton
Preceded by Michael Noonan	Minister for Justice 1986–1987	Succeeded by Gerard Collins
Preceded by Garret FitzGerald	Leader of the Fine Gael Party 1987–1990	Succeeded by John Bruton
	Leader of the Opposition 1987–1990
Preceded by John Bruton	Minister for Transport, Energy & Communications 1996–1997	Succeeded by Mary O'Rourke

Leaders of Fine Gael
Eoin O'Duffy (1933–1934) • W. T. Cosgrave (1934–1944) • Richard Mulcahy (1944–1959) • James Dillon (1959–1965) • Liam Cosgrave (1965–1977) • Garret FitzGerald (1977–1987) • Alan Dukes (1987–1990) • John Bruton (1990–2001) • Michael Noonan (2001–2002) • Enda Kenny (2002–)