Joan Burton

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Joan Burton (born February, 1949) is an Irish Labour Party politician. She is a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin West and is currently the Labour Party Spokesperson for Finance.

Joan Burton is a native of the Stoneybatter area of Dublin city. She was educated at St Joseph Sisters of Charity Secondary School, Stanhope Street and University College Dublin where she graduated with a degree in Commerce. She is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. She has worked as a lecturer in Accountancy in the Dublin Institute of Technology and the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She is currently on leave from the Dublin Institute of Technology.

Burton is currently a TD for Dublin West. She first stood for election in the 1989 general election, when she stood as one of two Labour candidates in the Dublin Central constituency, failing to get elected. At the local elections in 1991, she was elected to Dublin County Council for the Mulhuddart electoral area. Burton was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1992 general election, representing Dublin West in the 27th Dáil. On that occasion the Labour Party won a record 33 seats and 19.6% of the vote nationally, an achievement that has not since been equalled. She was appointed Minister of State for Social Welfare in the Fianna Fáil-Labour coalition that was formed after that election. With the breakdown of that coalition and establishment of a Rainbow Coalition between Labour, Fine Gael and the Democratic Left in early 1995, she became Minister of State for Justice and Foreign Affairs, a position she held until the coalition's defeat at 1997 general election.

She lost her seat in the 1997 general election to Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party, but was re-elected to Fingal County Council in the 1999 local elections, on this occasion winning a seat in the Castleknock electoral area. She was re-elected to the Dáil for Dublin West at the general election in 2002. She was then appointed the Spokesperson on Finance. She was a candidate for the deputy leadership of the party in 2002, obtaining 24% of the first preference vote, but was unsuccessful.

Preceded by Tomás Mac Giolla (Workers Party)	Labour Party Teachta Dála for Dublin West 1992–1997	Succeeded by Joe Higgins (Socialist Party)
Preceded by Newly redrawn constituency	Labour Party Teachta Dála for Dublin West 2002–	Succeeded by Current Incumbent

Preceded by Tom Kitt	Minister of State (with special responsibility for Overseas Development Aid) 1994–1997	Succeeded by Liz O'Donnell
Preceded by Newly created office	Minister of State at the Department of Justice 1994–1997	Succeeded by Office abolished