Garrett Fitzgerald was educated at Belvedere and University College Dublin in economics and law. He worked in Aer Lingus from 1947 to 1958 and lectured in economics at University College Dublin from 1959 to 1973. He was elected to Parliament in 1969 as a member of Fine Gael. As Minister of Foreign Affairs (1973 to 1977) he presided over the Council of Ministers during the first Irish Presidency from January to June 1975, as Prime Minister (1981-1982 and 1982-1987) he presided over the European Council during the last six months of 1984. In 1983 he set up the New Ireland Forum, which brought together representatives of the parties in the Republic and the nationalist SDLP from the North and prepared the Anglo-Irish Conference of November 1985. After loosing elections in 1987 Fitzgerald resigned the leadership of Fine Gael and retired from active politics.