Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil: Common Origins, Separate Identities?

Abstract

By 1936, the political controversies that had accompanied Éamon de Valera’s ascent to power had abated. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael had both chosen constitutionalism over paramilitarism. De Valera’s government wished to assert the sovereignty of the Irish state, and in the process, hoped to recast it in the image of Fianna Fáil. In December 1936, in a move that appealed to the party’s republican supporters, de Valera skilfully exploited Edward VIII’s abdication crisis (When Edward VIII proposed to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson, a number of legal, moral and political objections were raised. He abdicated in December 1936. Kitchen, Europe between the Wars, 302.) by passing the External Relations Act. This legislation excised all references to the Crown from the Free State’s constitution. In doing so, de Valera resurrected the policy of ‘External association’ he had outlined before the commencement of the Treaty negotiations and had defended subsequent debates.