Gemma Hussey
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Gemma Hussey (born 11th November, 1938), was a senior Irish Fine Gael politician.
Educated at University College Dublin, Gemma Hussey (née Moran) had a successful career running a language school in the late 1960's and '70's. She was first elected to Dáil Éireann, on her second attempt at the 1982 General Election, as a Fine Gael TD for Wicklow.
She had earlier been elected by the National University of Ireland to Seanad Éireann, serving in the upper house of the Oireachtas from 1977 until 1982. She sat as an independent senator for the first three years, before serving as Fine Gael spokesman on Women's Affairs (1981 – 1982) and then Government Leader of the Seanad.
Hussey served as Minister for Education in the Fine Gael/Labour coalition government of Garret Fitzgerald from 1982 to 1986, during which time she was heavily criticised by teachers' unions during a bitter pay strike in 1984. In 1986, she was re-shuffled to the equally contentious social welfare ministry.
Always a liberal and a feminist, she took a strongly supportive position on the legalisation of divorce, which was defeated in a referendum in 1986, and frequently suggested her support for liberalisation of the republic's anti-abortion laws. A heroine to Fine Gael's social democratic wing, which included "feminists" such as Monica Barnes and Nuala Fennell, as well as Alan Shatter and Alan Dukes, she was disliked by the conservative Roman Catholic (Christian Democratic) wing of the party which included TD's like (the anti-Semitic) Oliver J. Flanagan, (the anti-Protestant) Alice Glenn, and Gerry L'Estrange.
Her cabinet diaries (1990), At the Cutting Edge, were hailed as the most thorough and realistic account of life inside the cabinet in the Irish Republic. She retired from politics at the 1989 General Election.
In 1990, she had her knuckles rapped for suggesting that she might support the Labour Presidential candidate, Mary Robinson, a passionate feminist, over the official Fine Gael candidate, Austin Currie. Mary Robinson went on the become the Republic's first female president.
An enthusiastic Europhile, she spends a lot of her time now promoting the advancement of women in politics around the EU.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Gerard Brady |
Minister for Education 1982 – 1986 |
Succeeded by Patrick Cooney |
| Preceded by Barry Desmond |
Minister for Social Welfare 1986 – 1987 |
Succeeded by Michael Woods |
| Preceded by Ruairí Quinn |
Minister for Labour 1987 |
Succeeded by Bertie Ahern |
[edit] Bibliography
- Hussey, Gemma: At the Cutting Edge: Cabinet Diaries, 1982-1987 (Dublin, 1990)
- Hussey, Gemma: Ireland Today: Anatomy of a Changing State (London, 1993)
