Síle de Valera

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Síle de Valera (pronounced ˈʃiːlʲə ˌdɛvəˈlɛɹə) (born December 17, 1954), is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. She was first elected a TD in 1977, and has represented the Clare constituency since 1987. She served as Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht & the Islands (1997–2002).

Síle de Valera was born in 1954 in Dublin, Ireland. She was educated at Loreto Convent, Dublin and University College Dublin where she qualified as a career guidance teacher. She was first elected to Dáil Éireann in the Fianna Fáil landslide victory in the 1977 general election. She was elected for the Dublin Mid-County constituency, which included the Tallaght area of County Dublin, being the youngest TD elected at that election. In June 1979 she was elected to the European Parliament for a five-year term. Later that year, she was one of the Fianna Fáil TDs who criticised the policies of Taoiseach Jack Lynch in relation to Northern Ireland and was a prominent supporter of Charles Haughey, who succeeded him as Taoiseach in December 1979.

She held her Dáil seat until the 1981 general election, when the constituency boundaries were redrawn. She sought re-election in the new constituency of Dublin South. This caused tension within the Fianna Fáil party locally, as one of the other candidates, Séamus Brennan, was a prominent opponent of Haughey. De Valera polled relatively well at that election, but narrowly failed to get elected, losing to another Fianna Fáil candidate, Niall Andrews. She contested the constituency again at the general election in February 1982, but saw her vote drop and once again failed to be elected.

For the following general election in November 1982, she decided not to seek re-election in Dublin South, transferring instead to Clare, where one of the sitting TDs, Bill Loughnane (a fellow supporter of Haughey), was standing down. Clare was the constituency that her grandfather, Éamon de Valera, had represented from 1917 until 1959. Again, she narrowly failed to get elected, but she remained living in the constituency, and in 1987 she was elected TD for Clare and has been re-elected at every election since then.

De Valera resigned from Fianna Fáil in 1993 due to the removal of the 'stopover' at Shannon Airport. When she rejoined the Party in 1994 the new leader, Bertie Ahern, appointed her to the front bench. In 1997 she became Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht & the Islands. In 2002 she lost her place at the Cabinet table but became a Junior Minister. Her final government office was Minister of State at the Department of Education & Science, with Special Responsibility for Adult Education, Youth Affairs and Educational Disadvantage.

Síle de Valera comes from a famed political dynasty. She is the granddaughter of Fianna Fáil founder, first Taoiseach and third President of Ireland, Éamon de Valera. She is a niece of the former TD Vivion de Valera and is a first cousin of the current Minister for Community Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív.

On 11 November 2005, she announced her intention to stand down from Dáil Éireann at the next election. She denied that this was the result of pressure place upon her by the Taoiseach. As a result, for the first time since 1917, no one with the surname "de Valera" will serve in the Oireachtas. She resigned as a Junior Minister on 8 December 2006.

[edit] External links

• Síle de Valera's electoral history (ElectionsIreland.org)

[edit] See also

• Families in the Oireachtas

Political offices
Preceded by Michael D. Higgins	Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht & the Islands 1997–2002	Succeeded by Éamon Ó Cuív
Preceded by Willie O'Dea	Minister of State (with special responsibility for Adult Education, Youth Affairs and Educational Disadvantage) 2002–2006	Succeeded by Seán Haughey