Who do you think has been Ireland's greatest Taoiseach?

[Keith-M]

I'm surprised John A. Costello is doing so badly and in my opinion he was probably our third best Taoiseach after W.T. and Lemass.

His first government was very successful - declared the Republic, set up the IDA, brought in capital budgets, built a lot of houses and eradicated TB among other things. It's just a pity it couldn't last longer.

His second government wasn't as successful however it did mark the beginning of Ireland's new economic strategy and appointed T.K. Whitaker as part of that and that strategy was followed by Lemass and it implemented what was left of the Mother and Child scheme which was no easy task.

He certainly wasn't the worst (take your pick between Fitzerland, Haughey and DeValera on that one) but I can understand why he is the "least best" as he is currently rated.

The whole mother and child debacle, his failure to lift this country like the rest of Europe in the post war period, his record on censorship etc etc ofsets any godd he may have done.

[Rocky]

He certainly wasn't the worst (take your pick between Fitzerland, Haughey and DeValera on that one) but I can understand why he is the "least best" as he is currently rated.

The whole mother and child debacle, his failure to lift this country like the rest of Europe in the post war period, his record on censorship etc etc ofsets any godd he may have done.

I wouldn't blame Costello for Ireland's economic problems in the 50s. The country was showing good signs of growth during the first inter party government. It was Sean McEntee's budget in 52 that set the country back a mile.

I'll give you the mother and child debacle. I'd put most of the blame for that mess on Browne, but as Taoiseach Costello inevitably has to take some responsibility. I know nothing about him and censorship, but I doubt he was any worse then Dev and W.T.

[Fr. Hank Tree]

Dev set up the constitution, however bias towards a certain faith

Well Irish society had a bias towards that certain faith, so he would have been pretty undemocratic to go against it if he even wanted to.