Máire Geoghegan-Quinn

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Máire Geoghegan-Quinn
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn International Year of Chemistry.jpg
European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science
In office
9 February 2010 – 1 November 2014
President José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by Janez Potočnik (Science and Research)
Succeeded by Carlos Moedas (Research, Science and Innovation)
Minister for Equality and Law Reform
Acting
In office
18 November 1994 – 15 December 1994
Preceded by Mervyn Taylor
Succeeded by Mervyn Taylor
Minister for Justice
In office
4 January 1993 – 15 December 1994
Preceded by Pádraig Flynn
Succeeded by Nora Owen
Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications
In office
11 February 1992 – 12 January 1993
Preceded by Séamus Brennan
Succeeded by Charlie McCreevy
Minister for the Gaeltacht
In office
11 December 1979 – 30 June 1981
Preceded by Denis Gallagher
Succeeded by Paddy O'Toole
Personal details
Born (1950-09-05) 5 September 1950 (age 74)
Carna, County Galway, Ireland
Political party Fianna Fáil
Spouse(s) John Quinn
Children 2
Alma mater Our Lady of Mercy College, Carysfort
Website Official website

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn (/ˈmɑːrə ˈɡɛɡɪn ˈkwɪn/; born 5 September 1950) is a former Irish politician. She served as European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science from 2010 to 2014. She previously served as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway West constituency from 1975 to 1997.[1] She served in a number of ministries in Ireland in the early 1980s and early 1990s.

Early and personal life

Máire Geoghegan was born in Carna, County Galway in September 1950. She was educated at Coláiste Muire, Tourmakeady, in County Mayo and at Carysfort College in Blackrock from where she qualified as a teacher. She is married to John Quinn, with whom she has two children.

In 1996, her novel The Green Diamond, about four young women sharing a house in Dublin in the 1960s, was published.

Political career

Her father, Johnny Geoghegan, was Fianna Fáil TD for Galway West from 1954 until his death in 1975. His daughter successfully contested the subsequent by-election.[2] From 1977 to 1979 she worked as Parliamentary Secretary (Junior Minister) at the Department of Industry, Commerce and Energy. She served as a member of Galway City Council from 1985 to 1991.

Geoghegan-Quinn supported Charles Haughey in the 1979 Fianna Fáil leadership election and was subsequently appointed to the cabinet post of Minister for the Gaeltacht. Thus she became the first woman to hold an Irish cabinet post since 1922 (after Countess Markievicz had been appointed Minister for Labour in 1919 during the First Dáil) and the first woman to hold such a post in the history of the Irish state.

In 1982 she was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Education. Her tenure was short because the 23rd Dáil lasted only 279 days, and a Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition was elected at the November 1982 general election.

When Fianna Fáil returned to power after the 1987 general election, Geoghegan-Quinn became Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach. She resigned in 1991 in opposition to Charles Haughey's leadership of the party. The following year Albert Reynolds, whom she now backed for the leadership, became Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader. Geoghegan-Quinn was appointed Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications for her loyalty to Reynolds. In 1993 she became Minister for Justice, introducing substantial law reform legislation, including the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

When Reynolds resigned in November 1994, she was seen as his preferred successor for the leadership of the party.[3] She stood against Bertie Ahern and a win would have made her the first female Taoiseach. On the day of the vote, however, she withdrew from the contest 'in the interests of party unity'. It was reported that she had the support of only 15 members of the 66-strong parliamentary party.[4]

At the 1997 general election she retired from politics completely, citing privacy issues, after details about her 17-year-old son's expulsion from school appeared in the newspapers. "If his mother had been a homemaker, an architect or a businesswoman, this simply would not have happened," she commented.[5] Other reports suggested that she saw her prospects for promotion under Ahern as poor,[6] and a weak showing in constituency opinion polls indicated her seat could be in danger.[7] She became a non-executive director of Aer Lingus, a member of the Board of the Declan Ganley-owned Ganley Group and wrote a column for The Irish Times.

In 1999 she was appointed to the European Court of Auditors, replacing former TD Barry Desmond. She was appointed for a second term at the Court of Auditors in March 2006.

She was nominated by the Taoiseach Brian Cowen to become Ireland's European Commissioner in November 2009 [8] and was subsequently allocated the Research, Innovation and Science portfolio.[9]

In April 2010, after numerous calls were made over several days on Geoghegan-Quinn to surrender her pensions as a former Irish politician - which are worth over €104,000 - while she remained in a paid public office, she did so.[10]

In July 2015, it was announced that Geoghegan-Quinn would chair an independent panel to examine issues of gender equality among Irish higher education staff. [11]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ David Sharrock, "New coalition likely to avert Irish poll; Finance minister looks certain to take over from Reynolds", The Guardian, 19 November 1994.
  4. ↑ John Burns, "Softly, softly, says Ahern", The Sunday Times, 20 November 1994.
  5. ↑ Alan Murdoch, "Media blamed as Ireland's first woman cabinet minister quits", The Independent, 28 January 1997.
  6. ↑ Denis Coughlan, "Maybe more than a matter of family privacy Maire Geoghegan-Quinn will be a big loss to Fianna Fail, but the denizens of Leinster House are already calling 'next business'," Irish Times, 28 January 1997.
  7. ↑ John Burns and Rory Godson, "Desperately seeking candidates", The Sunday Times, 19 January 1997.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Oireachtas
Preceded by Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála for Galway West
1975–1997		 Succeeded by
Frank Fahey
Political offices
Preceded by Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy
1977–1978		 Succeeded by
Herself
as Minister of State for Consumer Affairs
Preceded by
Herself
as Parliamentary Secretary to the
Minister for Industry and Commerce		 Minister of State for Consumer Affairs
1978–1979		 Succeeded by
Ray Burke
Preceded by Minister for the Gaeltacht
1979–1981		 Succeeded by
Paddy O'Toole
Preceded by Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sport
1982		 Succeeded by
Donal Creed
New office Minister of State for the Coordination of Government Policy and EEC Matters
1987–1991		 Succeeded by
Michael Kitt
Preceded by Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications
1992–1993		 Succeeded by
Charlie McCreevy
Preceded by Minister for Justice
1993–1994		 Succeeded by
Nora Owen
Preceded by Minister for Equality and Law Reform
1994		 Succeeded by
Mervyn Taylor
Preceded by Irish European Commissioner
2010–2014		 Succeeded by
Phil Hogan
Preceded by as European Commissioner for Science and Research European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science
2010–2014		 Succeeded by
Carlos Moedas
as European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation

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