Mary Coughlan (politician)

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For other persons named Mary Coughlan, see Mary Coughlan (disambiguation).
Mary Coughlan 
TD
Mary Coughlan (politician)
Incumbent
Assumed office 
07 May 2008
Preceded by Brian Cowen
Incumbent
Assumed office 
7 May 2008
Preceded by Micheál Martin
In office
29 September 2004 – 07 May 2008
Preceded by Joe Walsh
Succeeded by Brendan Smith
Constituency Donegal South West
Born 28 May 1965 (1965-05-28) (age 43)
Donegal
Nationality Irish
Political party Fianna Fáil
Spouse David Charlton
Children Cathal and Maeve
Residence Frosses, Co. Donegal
Alma mater University College Dublin

Mary Coughlan (Irish: Máire Ní Chochláinn; born 28 May 1965) is a senior Irish Fianna Fáil politician. Since May 2008 she has been Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. She has previously served as Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food and Minister for Social & Family Affairs. She has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for Donegal South West since 1987.

Contents

[edit] Early and private life

Coughlan was born in Donegal Town in the south of County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster, in 1965. [1] Her father was Cathal Coughlan, a former Fianna Fáil TD, who died in June 1986. [2] She was educated at the Ursuline Convent in Sligo — where she was a boarder from 1978 to 1983 [3] — and at University College Dublin, graduating with a Social Science (BSocSc) degree. [1] She briefly worked as a social worker before becoming involved in politics.

Mary Coughlan is married to David Charlton. Her husband, David, is a Garda, who lost a leg in a serious car accident a few years after they were married. [2] They were married when Coughlan was aged 26, two years after they met — David was working as a Garda on duty at Leinster House at the time. [2] They have two children — one son and one daughter. [4] [1] They live at Frosses, a village just west of Donegal Town. [4] [5] Her children's names are Cathal and Maeve. [4] Her eldest child, Cathal, is deaf. [2] Her second child, Maeve, was born in May 1999. [2]

Coughlan is a fluent Irish speaker. [6]

[edit] Political career

[edit] Early political life

Coming from a political family, Coughlan was always interested in politics, and joined a Cumann at the age of 16. [7] Coughlan was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil TD in the 1987 general election for the Donegal South West constituency. At the age of 21 years and 9 months Coughlan was the youngest member of the 25th Dáil. Coughlan is not the only member of her family to become politically active. Her uncle, Clement Coughlan, was a TD from 1981 until his death in 1983, in a road traffic accident while her father, Cathal Coughlan, was a TD from 1983 to 1986 when he died after a short illness. The death of her father resulted in Coughlan being co-opted onto Donegal County Council and launching her own political career.

Coughlan remained on the backbenches of the Dáil for the first thirteen years of her career as a TD, before being appointed a Junior Minister.[8] During this period she served on a number of Oireachtas committees, including the Joint Committee on Tourism, Sport & Recreation and the Joint Committee on the Irish language where she served as Chairperson. Coughlan was also a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Body. In 1994 Bertie Ahern became leader of Fianna Fáil and Leader of the Opposition. In early 1995 he named his new front bench, including Coughlan as Spokesperson on Educational Reform. She served in this position until 1997 but was not included in the cabinet or junior ministerial team when the party came to power.

[edit] Junior Minister

In February 2001 Coughlan received her first ministerial position, that of Minister of State (Junior Minister) at the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht & the Islands. [6] During her time in this role she established a Working Group on the Creation of Employment in the Gaeltacht. [9] Also during her tenure, Inishbofin Island, off the Co. Donegal coast, was connected to the national electricity grid for the first time by using an under water cable from the mainland. [10]

[edit] Cabinet career: 2002-present

[edit] Minister for Social and Family Affairs

After the 2002 general election when she was promoted to the cabinet as Minister for Social & Family Affairs.

During her time in this Department, Coughlan received widespread criticism for changes she made regarding the availability of rent supplement. This was seen as targeting the weaker sections of society at a time when the Irish economy was reasonably strong. [11] [12] She was also widely criticised for cuts she made as Minister to entitlements for widows and widowers after the death of a spouse. [13] She was also involved in a dispute over payments with the country’s dentists. [14] However, many considered these and other similar cutbacks to have been forced upon her by Charles McCreevy [14] — who was Minister for Finance at the time, and who was blamed for many of his decisions.

On the other hand, during her time as Minister for Social and Family Affairs, she was praised for introducing large increases in Child Benefit and in pensions. [14]

[edit] Minister for Agriculture and Food (& Fisheries)

In a cabinet reshuffle in 2004 Coughlan succeeded Joe Walsh as Minister for Agriculture & Food, becoming the first woman to hold that portfolio in the Republic of Ireland. [13] Incidently, the first woman in history to serve as an Agriculture Minister in Ireland was also a Donegal woman, Bríd Rodgers, who served as Northern Irish Minister for Agriculture in the Northern Ireland Executive from 1999 to 2002.

During her time in this role the country's last two remaining Sugar factories, owned by Greencore, were closed — the Carlow factory closed on 11 March 2005. Mallow, Ireland’s last Sugar factory to remain open, closed on 12 May 2006, [15] after operating for 77 years. Farmer's and others were critical of the decision. [15] They criticised the government's and the Minister's roles — both were seen as not doing enough to try to stop the closures, though they had retained some control over the factories since they had been privatised a number of years before. As Sugar Beet growers now had nowhere to sell their Sugar Beet, cultivation of the crop ceased in Ireland. Coughlan also headed this Department at a time when the spread of bird flu from abroad looked very likely to occur, especially in 2006. [16]

Coughlan was re-appointed to the portfolio on 14 June 2007 following that year's General Election, with the additional responsibility of fisheries as Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries & Food. Shortly after her re-appointment Coughlan had to put in place measures to deal with the threat of the potential spread of foot and mouth disease from Britain — in early August 2007. [17] The outbreak was contained.

Throughout her time in this Ministry, Coughlan was invovled in ongoing WTO trade talks.

[edit] Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Following Bertie Ahern's resignation on May 6th 2008, Coughlan was promoted in a cabinet re-shuffle. Coughlan was named Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment on 7 May 2008 by newly appointed Taoiseach Brian Cowen. She is only the third person from the Province of Ulster to serve as Tánaiste since that office was created in 1937, the others being Seán MacEntee from Belfast and John P. Wilson from County Cavan.

[edit] Controversy

[edit] Gay rights issues

Coughlan was involved in a number of controversies regarding gay rights during her time as Minister for Social and Family Affairs.

In March 2004, she attempted to introduce legislation which would limit the meaning of the word 'spouse' to include only married couples; this was widely regarded as discriminatory towards same-sex couples as there is no legal recognition of same-sex unions in the Republic of Ireland.[18][19][20][21] Two months later, Coughlan caused a furore at a European Union conference on family and social policy by claiming that Ireland would never be ready for same-sex marriage or gay adoption.[22]

Coughlan did, however, produce a report discussing new definitions of 'the family' which recommended a more progressive approach to the matter. This may have influenced the Government's 2008 civil union legislation.[23]

[edit] Quotes

  • "My personal view is that this country is not ready for that and may never, ever, ever be ready for it” (May 2004) - as Minister for Social and Family Affairs, on the subject of gay male couples obtaining legal status as parents in the Republic of Ireland. [24] [25]
  • "Joe Walsh leaves large Wellington boots to step into” (September 2004) - shortly after her appointment as Minister for Agriculture and Food (succeeding Joe Walsh as Minister). [13]
  • "I'll be doing my best for the people of the north-west, particularly my own county" (May 2008) - a few days after her appointment as Tánaiste. [4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Profile of Mary Coughlan. Fianna Fáil Party Website. Retrieved on 2008-05-10.
  2. ^ a b c d e Halloran, Catherine (Friday, 9 May 2008), “There's something special about Mary”, Irish Daily Star: 9 .
  3. ^ Gray, Jim. "It’s cheers all round as former Ursuline girl becomes Minister", Irish Independent, Friday, 14 June 2002. Retrieved on 2008-05-10. 
  4. ^ a b c d Clancy, Paddy. "There is just no place like home for Tanaiste Mary", Irish Independent, Saturday, 10 May 2008. Retrieved on 2008-05-10. 
  5. ^ Clancy, Paddy. "Mary a step closer to Taoiseach", Donegal Post, 9 May 2008. Retrieved on 2008-05-10. 
  6. ^ a b McKenna, Gene. "The winners in Ahern's shake-up", Irish Independent, Friday, 7 June 2002. Retrieved on 2008-05-10. 
  7. ^ "Running for office", Irish Independent, Monday, 26 November 2007. Retrieved on 2008-05-10. 
  8. ^ http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2008/pc/pod-v-010408-5m21s-drivetime.mp3
  9. ^ "Ó Cuív welcomes the Report of the Working Group on the Creation of Employment in the Gaeltacht", Press Releases, Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, 16 December 2002. Retrieved on 2008-05-10. 
  10. ^ Hurley, Isabel. "Islanders light up, switch on for first time", Irish Independent, Tuesday, 7 May 2002. Retrieved on 2008-05-10. 
  11. ^ Quinn, David; Social Affairs Correspondent. "Rent supplement changes 'causing severe hardship'", Irish Independent, Tuesday, 28 September 2004. Retrieved on 2008-05-14. 
  12. ^ Reynolds, Eoin. "Outrage at decision on rent allowance", Fingal Independent, Friday, 13 December 2002. Retrieved on 2008-05-14. 
  13. ^ a b c Molony, Senan. "Mary Coughlan will plough a unique farming furrow", Irish Independent, Thursady, 30 September 2004. Retrieved on 2008-05-14. 
  14. ^ a b c "'Wee lass' with a safe pair of hands", Irish Independent, Monday, 27 September 2004. Retrieved on 2008-05-14. 
  15. ^ a b Sheehan, Aideen. "End of an era as Mallow sugar plant shuts down", Irish Independent, Saturday, 13 May 2006. Retrieved on 2008-05-12. 
  16. ^ Sheehan, Aideen; Allison Bray. "Country on high alert as bird flu outbreak 'inevitable’", Irish Independent, Friday, 7 April 2006. Retrieved on 2008-05-13. 
  17. ^ "Coughlan pleased British samples prove negative", Irish Examiner, Saturday, 11 August 2007. Retrieved on 2008-05-12. 
  18. ^ Govt accused of bid to withdraw gay rights. RTÉ News (2004-03-11). Retrieved on 2008-04-11.
  19. ^ http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/D/0582/D.0582.200403110004.html
  20. ^ http://www.usilgbt.org/index.php?categoryid=32
  21. ^ http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/2004/03/11/story137841.asp
  22. ^ http://www.houstonvoice.com/2004/5-21/news/worldnews/wibs.cfm
  23. ^ http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2008/pc/pod-v-010408-5m21s-drivetime.mp3
  24. ^ "Quotes of the Week", Sunday Independent, Sunday, 16 May 2004. Retrieved on 2008-05-14. 
  25. ^ Quinn, Ben. "Gay parents might never be accepted here, says minister", Irish Independent, Friday, 14 May 2004. Retrieved on 2008-05-14. 

[edit] External links

Oireachtas
Preceded by
Cathal Coughlan		 Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála for
Donegal South West
1987–present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Éamon Ó Cuív		 Minister of State with special responsibility for the Gaeltacht and the Islands
2001–2002		 Succeeded by
Office abolished
Preceded by
Minister for Social, Community & Family Affairs
Dermot Ahern		 Minister for Social & Family Affairs
2002–2004		 Succeeded by
Séamus Brennan
Preceded by
Joe Walsh		 Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries & Food
2004–2008		 Succeeded by
Brendan Smith
Preceded by
Micheál Martin		 Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment
2008–present		 Incumbent
Preceded by
Brian Cowen		 Tánaiste
2008–present		 Incumbent

This page incorporates information from the Oireachtas Members Database

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