Members of the 30th Dáil and Ruairi Quinn (Lab). Following a vote, John O'Donoghue was elected to this position. The position of Taoiseach was contested by Bertie Ahern (FF) and Enda Kenny (FG). Following a vote Bertie Ahern was elected to this position, making it his third consecutive term in office. On 7 May 2008, Brian Cowen was elected Taoiseach in place of Ahern, who had resigned. Séamus Kirk was elected Ceann Comhairle on 13 October 2009 following the resignation of O'Donoghue. Government coalition parties are denoted by "●". This is a graphical comparison of party strengths in the 30th Dáil from January 2011, shortly
More Irish than the Irish themselves it is recognized that the supposedly contemporary phrase dates only from the late eighteenth century, the Latin form ("Hiberniores ipsis Hibernis") sometimes used to give it an authentic medieval ring from later still." More Irish than the Irish themselves "More Irish than the Irish themselves" (, ) is a phrase used in Irish historiography to describe a phenomenon of cultural assimilation in late medieval Norman Ireland. The descendants of Hiberno-Norman lords who had settled in Ireland in the 12th century had been significantly Gaelicised by the end of the Middle Ages, forming septs and clans after the indigenous Gaelic pattern,