The Irish taoiseach or prime minister Garret FitzGerald (born 1926) was deeply committed to religious and cultural tolerance and reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic and to constitutional and structural changes serving those ends.

Garret FitzGerald was born on February 9, 1926, the son of Desmond and Mabel (McConnell) FitzGerald. Both parents had been involved in the Irish language restoration movement, the Gaelic League, the 1916 Easter Week uprising, and the insurrection of 1919-1921, although the mother was an Ulster Presbyterian. His father had been minister for external affairs, 1922-1927, and minister for defense, 1927-1932, of the Irish Free State.

FitzGerald received his primary education at St. Brigid's School in Bray, County Wicklow, and started his secondary education at an Irish-language boarding school, Coláiste na Rinne, in Dungarvan, County Waterford, but completed it at Belvedere College in Dublin. He studied economics at University College, Dublin, where he received...