Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly in favour of extending marriage rights to same-sex couples. On 23 May 2015, Ireland became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage by popular vote. Ireland became the first country in the world to introduce an environmental levy for plastic shopping bags in 2002 and a public smoking ban in 2004. Recycling in Ireland is carried out extensively, and Ireland has the second highest rate of packaging recycling in the European Union. It was the first country in Europe to ban incandescent lightbulbs in 2008 and the first EU country to ban in-store tobacco advertising and product display in
23rd Government of Ireland 23rd Government of Ireland The 23rd Government of Ireland, the first government of the 27th Dáil, was a coalition of Fianna Fáil (with leader Albert Reynolds as Taoiseach) and the Labour Party (with leader Dick Spring as Tánaiste). It was the first time that these two parties were in government together; on each previous occasion Labour was in government, it was a junior coalition party with Fine Gael. The 1992 general election had been held on 25 November 1992 and the 27th Dáil first met on 14 December 1992, while post-election negotiations between the parties were still ongoing. A new