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Government of the 26th Dáil

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ5589370 ↗
Source-derived summary

There were two governments of the 26th Dáil elected at the 1989 general election on 15 June 1989, both being coalition governments of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats. The 21st government of Ireland (12 July 1989 – 11 February 1992) was led by Charles Haughey as Taoiseach and lasted 2 years, 214 days. The 22nd government of Ireland (11 February 1992 – 12 January 1993) was led by Albert Reynolds as Taoiseach and lasted 307 days from its appointment until resignation, and continued to carry out its duties for a further 29 days until the appointment of its successor, giving a total of 336 days.

21st government of Ireland

Nomination of Taoiseach

The 26th Dáil first met on 26 June 1989. In the debate on the nomination of Taoiseach, Fianna Fáil leader and outgoing Taoiseach Charles Haughey, Fine Gael leader Alan Dukes, and Labour Party leader Dick Spring were each proposed. Each of these proposals were lost: Haughey received 78 votes with 86 votes against, Dukes received 61 votes with 103 votes against, and Spring received 24 votes with 138 votes against. Haughey resigned as Taoiseach, continuing to serve in a caretaker capacity.

The Dáil met again on 3 July and on 6 July, but no vote was taken on the nomination of the Taoiseach. On 12 July, Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats had agreed to form a coalition government, the 21st government of Ireland (12 July 1989 – 11 February 1992). The same three leaders were proposed again for the nomination of the Dáil for appointment by the president to be Taoiseach.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Government of the 26th Dáil” as wikimedia list article. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1989, 1992, 1993—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Government, 26th and Dáil can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as wikimedia list article. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5589370. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1989, 1992 and 1993.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Government of the 26th Dáil” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.