Everything about Mary Coughlan Politician totally explained
Her father was
Cathal Coughlan, a former
Fianna Fáil TD, who died in June 1986. She was educated at the
Ursuline Convent in
Sligo — where she was a boarder from 1978 to 1983 — and at
University College Dublin, graduating with a Social Science (BSocSc) degree. Her children's names are Cathal and Maeve.
Political career
Early political life
Coming from a political family, Coughlan was always interested in politics, and joined a
Cumann at the age of 16. 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 isn't 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. 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 wasn't included in the
cabinet or
junior ministerial team when the party came to power.
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. 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.
Cabinet career: 2002-present
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. She was also widely criticised for cuts she made as Minister to entitlements for widows and widowers after the death of a spouse. She was also involved in a dispute over payments with the country’s dentists. However, many considered these and other similar cutbacks to have been forced upon her by
Charles McCreevy after operating for 77 years. Farmer's and others were critical of the decision.
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. The
outbreak was contained.
Throughout her time in this Ministry, Coughlan was invovled in ongoing
WTO trade talks.
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.
Controversy
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's no legal recognition of same-sex unions in the Republic of Ireland. 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.
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.
Quotes
- "My personal view is that this country isn't 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.
- "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).
[
]- "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.
Further Information
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