Pádraigín Bláthanna

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Patricia Flowers
Ghaillish: Pádraigín Bláthanna
PatriciaFlowers2.jpg
Flowers in 2016
Taoiseach of Caldia
In office
21 June 1982 – 22 June 1992
MonarchEllen II
DeputyRuadhrí Mac Ceallach
Preceded byMícheál Ó Muilleoir
Succeeded byNiamh Nic Uilliam
Leader of His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition
In office
3 July 1977 – 21 June 1982
Preceded byMícheál Ó Muilleoir
Succeeded byFíona Nic Chonsaidín
Leader of the Liberty Party
In office
3 July 1977 – 13 June 1992
Preceded byDáibhí Mac Coinneach
Succeeded byBríd Nic Loingsigh
Minister of Industry and Petroleum
In office
19 June 1972 – 29 June 1977
TaoiseachDáibhí Mac Coinneach
List Teachta Comhthionól
In office
12 June 1982 – 1 July 1992
Teachta Comhthionól
for Aerach North
In office
12 June 1972 – 12 June 1982
Personal details
Born
Patricia Grania Ní Loingsigh

(1929-02-17) 17 February 1929 (age 95)
Spálgleann, Caldia
Political partyLiberty Party
SpouseClive Flowers (m. 1954; died 2005)
Children4 children
Alma materUniversity of Morwall

Patricia Grania Flowers (née Ní Loingsigh , born 17 February 1929) is a Caldish politician who served as the Taoiseach of Caldia from 1982 to 1992.

A corporate lawyer by profession, Flowers was first elected to the Comhthionól Náisiúnta as a Teachta Comhthionól for Aerach North in 1972. She gained a reputation for her "no-nonsense" approach to legislating and eloquence. Flowers served as Minister of Industry and Petroleum in the Second Mac Coinneach Government. She became leader of the Liberty Party and lead the party in opposition. While in opposition, she moved the party towards neoliberal economic policy.

In the 1982 general election, Flowers led her party to a landslide victory. Her free-market ethos saw the privatization of publicly-owned enterprises of and welfare services. Flowers also made substantial changes to the Caldish tax code, introducing a flat tax and special economic zones. Her economic reforms increased economic growth and foreign investment in Caldia. Despite strong economic growth, income inequality grew considerably.

Flowers' favored continued economic integration of the Euclean Community and agreed to adopt the euclo in 1983. However, she was opposed to increased political integration and focused Caldish foreign policy back towards neutrality, reversing the foreign policy of her predecessor and re-distancing the country from Kirenia.

She was defeated in 1992 by Niamh Nic Uilliam and resigned as leader the following month. Flowers had a major impact on her party, shifting it ideologically and initiated a lasting realignment towards economic liberalism. Supporters of Flowers continued to dominate her party until the rise of Alexis Walker in 2007.

Life and early career

Political career

Leader of the Opposition

Taoiseach

After politics

Personal life

Legacy