List of women ministers of state of the Republic of Ireland

A Minister of State in Ireland (also called a junior minister) is of non-cabinet rank attached to one or more Departments of State of the Government of Ireland and assists a Minister of that government.

As of 2021, 32 women have served as Ministers of State in Ireland. Five of the twenty Ministers of State appointed by the government of Micheál Martin in June 2020 were women, with two regularly attending cabinet. Some Ministers of State, including the Government Chief Whip,[1] attend cabinet meetings in a non-voting capacity, but are not members of the Government. They are formally known as "Minister of State attending Government",[2][3] or colloquially as "Super Junior" ministers.[4] There are currently three Ministers of State who regularly attend cabinet, two of whom are women.

Appointment

The Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924 allowed the Executive Council (from 1937, the Government of Ireland) to appoint up to seven Parliamentary Secretaries to the Executive Council or to Executive Ministers.[5] The Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1977 abolished the position of Parliamentary Secretary, and created the new position of Minister of State.[6] This Act was commenced on 1 January 1978.[7] Unlike senior government ministers, who are appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach and the prior approval of Dáil Éireann, Ministers of State are appointed directly by the government, on the nomination of the Taoiseach. Members of either House of the Oireachtas (Dáil or Seanad) may be appointed to be a Minister of State at a Department of State.

History

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn was the first and only woman to be appointed as a Parliamentary Secretary, when she was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Commerce by Jack Lynch in 1977. She was the first woman to be appointed as a Minister of State in 1978, as Minister of State at the Department of Industry, Commerce and Energy. In 1979, Geoghegan-Quinn would become the first women appointed to cabinet since 1921. There has been at least one woman Minister of State in all appointments since June 1981. To date, only one Senator, Pippa Hackett, who was appointed in June 2020, has been appointed as a Minister of State.

List of women ministers of state

  Denotes incumbent minister of state

No.	Name	Department(s)	Responsibility	Party		Appointed	Left office	Taoiseach	Govt.
1	Máire Geoghegan-Quinn[lower-alpha 1] (born 1950)[8]	Industry and Commerce[9]	Parliamentary Secretary[10]		Fianna Fáil	5 July 1977	1 January 1978	Jack Lynch	15th
		Industry, Commerce and Energy	Minister of State[10]			1 January 1978	11 December 1979		15th
		Education[11]	Youth and Sport[12]			23 March 1982	14 December 1982	Charles Haughey	18th
		Taoiseach[13]	Co-ordination of Government policy and EC matters[14]			12 March 1987	12 July 1989		20th
		Taoiseach[15]	Co-ordinator of Government Policy and EC matters[16]			19 July 1989	11 February 1992		21st
2	Mary Flaherty (born 1953)[17]	Health[18] Social Welfare	Poverty and the Family[19]		Fine Gael	30 June 1981	9 March 1982	Garret FitzGerald	17th
3	Nuala Fennell (1935–2009[20]	Taoiseach[21]	Women's Affairs[22]		Fine Gael	16 December 1982	10 March 1987	Garret FitzGerald	19th
		Justice[23]	Family Law Reform[22]			7 January 1983	10 March 1987
4	Avril Doyle (born 1949)[24]	Finance[25] Environment	Office of Public Works Environmental Protection[22]		Fine Gael	13 February 1986	10 March 1987	Garret FitzGerald	19th
		Taoiseach[26] Finance Transport, Energy and Communications	Consumers of Public Services[27]			27 January 1995	26 June 1997	John Bruton	24th
5	Mary Harney[lower-alpha 1] (born 1953)[28]	Environment[15][29]	Protection of the Environment[16]		Progressive Democrats	19 July 1989	11 February 1992	Charles Haughey	21st
						11 February 1992	4 November 1992	Albert Reynolds	22nd
6	Mary O'Rourke[lower-alpha 1] (born 1937)[30]	Industry and Commerce[29]	Trade and Marketing[16]		Fianna Fáil	13 February 1992	12 January 1993	Albert Reynolds	22nd
		Enterprise and Employment[31]	Labour Affairs[27]			14 January 1993	15 December 1994		23rd
7=	Eithne FitzGerald (born 1950)[32]	Finance[31]	Office of the Tánaiste, National Development Plan[27]		Labour	14 January 1993	17 November 1994	Albert Reynolds	23rd
		Enterprise and Employment[33]	Office of the Tánaiste, Labour Affairs[27]			20 December 1994	26 June 1997	John Bruton	24th
7=	Joan Burton[lower-alpha 1] (born 1949)[34]	Social Welfare[31]	Poverty, Tax and Social Welfare Codes[27]		Labour	14 January 1993	17 November 1994	Albert Reynolds	23rd
		Foreign Affairs[33] Justice	Overseas Development Assistance[27]			20 December 1994	26 June 1997	John Bruton	24th
9	Liz McManus (born 1947)[35]	Environment[33]	Environment[27]		Democratic Left	20 December 1994	26 June 1997	John Bruton	24th
10	Liz O'Donnell (born 1956)[36]	Foreign Affairs[37]	Overseas Development Assistance, Human Rights[38]		Progressive Democrats	1 July 1997	6 June 2002	Bertie Ahern	25th
			Minister of State to the Government[38]			11 April 2002	6 June 2002
11	Mary Wallace (born 1959)[39]	Justice, Equality and Law Reform[37]	Equality, Disabilities[38]		Fianna Fáil	8 July 1997	6 June 2002	Bertie Ahern	25th
		Agriculture and Food[40]	Forestry[41]			14 February 2006	14 June 2007		26th
		Agriculture, Fisheries and Food[42]	Forestry[43]			20 June 2007	7 May 2008		27th
		Health and Children[44]	Health Promotion, Food Safety[45]			13 May 2008	22 April 2009	Brian Cowen	28th
12	Mary Hanafin[lower-alpha 1] (born 1959)[46]	Health and Children[47] Justice, Equality and Law Reform Education and Science	Children[38]		Fianna Fáil	1 February 2000	6 June 2002	Bertie Ahern	25th
		Taoiseach[48] Defence	Government Chief Whip, Defence, Information society[41]			6 June 2002	29 September 2004		26th
13	Mary Coughlan[lower-alpha 1] (born 1965)[49]	Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands[50]	Gaeltacht, The Islands[38]		Fianna Fáil	19 February 2001	6 June 2002	Bertie Ahern	25th
14	Síle de Valera[lower-alpha 1] (born 1954)[51]	Education and Science[52]	Adult Education, Youth Affairs, Educational Disadvantage[41]		Fianna Fáil	19 June 2002	8 December 2006	Bertie Ahern	26th
15	Máire Hoctor (born 1963)[53]	Health and Children[42] Social and Family Affairs Environment, Heritage and Local Government	Services for Older People[43]		Fianna Fáil	9 July 2007	7 May 2008	Bertie Ahern	27th
		Health and Children[44] Social and Family Affairs Environment, Heritage and Local Government	Older People[45]			13 May 2008	22 April 2009	Brian Cowen	28th
16	Áine Brady (born 1954)[54]	Health and Children[55] Social and Family Affairs Environment, Heritage and Local Government	Older People, Health Promotion[45]		Fianna Fáil	22 April 2009	9 March 2011	Brian Cowen	28th
17	Mary White (born 1948)[56]	Justice and Law Reform[57] Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs Education and Skills	Equality and Human Rights, Integration[45]		Green	23 March 2010	23 January 2011	Brian Cowen	28th
18=	Róisín Shortall (born 1954)[58]	Health[59]	Primary Care[60]		Labour	10 March 2011	26 September 2012	Enda Kenny	29th
18=	Jan O'Sullivan[lower-alpha 1] (born 1950)[61]	Foreign Affairs and Trade[59]	Trade and Development[60]		Labour	10 March 2011	20 December 2011	Enda Kenny	29th
		Environment, Community and Local Government	Housing and Planning[60][lower-alpha 2]			20 December 2011	11 July 2014
18=	Kathleen Lynch (born 1953)[62]	Justice and Equality[59] Health	Disability, Equality, Mental Health[60]		Labour	10 March 2011	15 July 2014	Enda Kenny	29th
		Health[63]	Primary Care, Mental Health, Disability			15 July 2014	6 May 2016
18=	Lucinda Creighton (born 1980)[64]	Taoiseach[59] Foreign Affairs and Trade	European Affairs[60]		Fine Gael	10 March 2011	11 July 2013	Enda Kenny	29th
22	Ann Phelan (born 1961)[65]	Agriculture, Food and the Marine[63] Transport, Tourism and Sport	Rural Economic Development, Rural Transport[60]		Labour	15 July 2014	6 May 2016	Enda Kenny	29th
23	Regina Doherty[lower-alpha 1] (born 1971)[66]	Taoiseach[67]	Government Chief Whip[lower-alpha 2]		Fine Gael	6 May 2016	14 June 2017	Enda Kenny	30th
24=	Helen McEntee[lower-alpha 1] (born 1986)[68]	Health[69]	Mental Health, Older People		Fine Gael	19 May 2016	14 June 2017	Enda Kenny	30th
		Foreign Affairs and Trade[70]	European Affairs			20 June 2017	27 June 2020	Leo Varadkar	31st
24=	Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (born 1963)[71]	Health[69]	Health Promotion		Fine Gael	19 May 2016	14 June 2017	Enda Kenny	30th
24=	Catherine Byrne (born 1956)[72]	Health[69] Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government	Communities, National Drugs Strategy		Fine Gael	19 May 2016	14 June 2017	Enda Kenny	30th
		Health[70]	Health Promotion, National Drugs Strategy			20 June 2017	27 June 2020	Leo Varadkar	31st
27	Mary Mitchell O'Connor[lower-alpha 1] (born 1959)[73]	Education and Skills[74]	Higher Education[lower-alpha 2]		Fine Gael	14 June 2017	27 June 2020	Leo Varadkar	31st
28=	Hildegarde Naughton (born 1977)[75]	Transport[76] Environment, Climate and Communications	International and Road Transport and Logistics Postal Policy and Eircodes[lower-alpha 2]		Fine Gael	27 June 2020	Incumbent	Micheál Martin	32nd
28=	Pippa Hackett[77]	Agriculture, Food and the Marine[76]	Land Use and Biodiversity[lower-alpha 2]		Green	27 June 2020	Incumbent	Micheál Martin	32nd
30=	Josepha Madigan[lower-alpha 1] (born 1970)[78]	Education[79]	Special Education and Inclusion		Fine Gael	1 July 2020	Incumbent	Micheál Martin	32nd
30=	Anne Rabbitte (born 1973)[80]	Health[79] Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth	Disability		Fianna Fáil	1 July 2020	Incumbent	Micheál Martin	32nd
30=	Mary Butler (born 1973)[81]	Health[79]	Mental Health, Older People		Fianna Fáil	1 July 2020	Incumbent	Micheál Martin	32nd

Timeline

Notes

1. Also served as a senior cabinet minister.
2. In attendance at cabinet as "super junior" minister.

References

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