| Máire Geoghegan-Quinn | |
|---|---|
| European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 9 February 2010 |
|
| President | José Manuel Barroso |
| Preceded by | Janez Potočnik (Science and Research) |
| Minister for Equality and Law Reform Acting |
|
| In office 18 November 1994 – 15 December 1994 |
|
| Preceded by | Mervyn Taylor |
| Succeeded by | Mervyn Taylor |
| Minister for Justice | |
| In office 4 January 1993 – 15 December 1994 |
|
| Preceded by | Pádraig Flynn |
| Succeeded by | Nora Owen |
| Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications | |
| In office 11 February 1992 – 12 January 1993 |
|
| Preceded by | Séamus Brennan |
| Succeeded by | Charlie McCreevy |
| Minister for the Gaeltacht | |
| In office 11 December 1979 – 30 June 1981 |
|
| Preceded by | Denis Gallagher |
| Succeeded by | Paddy O'Toole |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 September 1950 Carna, County Galway, Ireland |
| Political party | Fianna Fáil |
| Spouse(s) | John Quinn |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Our Lady of Mercy College, Carysfort |
| Profession | Teacher |
| Website | Official website |
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn (English pronunciation: /ˈmɑɹə ˈɡeɡɪn ˈkwɪn/; born 5 September 1950) is an Irish politician, and is the current European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science. She previously served as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway West constituency from 1975 to 1997.[1] She served as Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications (1992–1993) and as Minister for Justice (1993–94).
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Máire Geoghegan was born in Carna, County Galway in September 1950. She was educated at Coláiste Muire, Tourmakeady, in County Mayo and at Carysfort College in Blackrock from where she qualified as a teacher. She is married to John Quinn, with whom she has two children.
In 1996, she wrote The Green Diamond, a novel about four young women sharing a house in Dublin in the 1960s.
Her father, Johnny Geoghegan, was Fianna Fáil TD for Galway West from 1954 until his death in 1975. His daughter successfully contested the subsequent by-election.[2] From 1977 and 1979 she worked as Parliamentary Secretary (Junior Minister) at the Department of Industry, Commerce and Energy. She served as a member of Galway City Council from 1985–91.
Geoghegan-Quinn supported Charles Haughey in the 1979 Fianna Fáil leadership election, she was subsequently appointed to the cabinet post of Minister for the Gaeltacht. Thus, she became the first woman to hold an Irish cabinet post since 1922, when Countess Markievicz was Minister for Labour in the First Dáil starting 1919. In 1981 Labour Party's Eileen Desmond became the next woman to hold a cabinet post.
In 1982 she was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Education. Her tenure was short, because the 23rd Dáil lasted only 279 days, and a Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition was elected at the November 1982 general election.
When Fianna Fáil returned to power after the 1987 general election, Geoghegan-Quinn became Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach. She resigned in 1991 in opposition to Charles Haughey's leadership of the party. The following year Albert Reynolds, whom she now backed for the leadership, became Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader. Geoghegan-Quinn was appointed Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications for her loyalty to Reynolds. In 1993 she became Minister for Justice, introducing substantial law reform legislation, including the decriminalisation of homosexuality.
When Reynolds resigned in November 1994, she was seen as his preferred successor for the leadership of the party.[3] She stood against Bertie Ahern and a win would have made her the first female Taoiseach. On the day of the vote, however, she withdrew from the contest 'in the interests of party unity'. It is was reported that she had the support of only 15 members of the 66-strong parliamentary party.[4]
At the 1997 general election she retired from politics completely, citing privacy issues, after details about her 17-year old son's expulsion from school appeared in the newspapers. "If his mother had been a homemaker, an architect or a businesswoman, this simply would not have happened," she commented.[5] Other reports suggested that she saw her prospects for promotion under Ahern as poor,[6] and a weak showing in constituency opinion polls indicated her seat could be in danger.[7] She became a non-executive director of Aer Lingus, a member of the Board of the Declan Ganley owned Ganley Group and wrote a column for The Irish Times.
In 1999 she was appointed to the European Court of Auditors replacing former TD Barry Desmond. She was appointed for a second term at the Court of Auditors in March 2006.
She was nominated by the Taoiseach Brian Cowen to become Ireland's European Commissioner in November 2009.[8] and was subsequently allocated the Research, Innovation and Science portfolio.[9]
In April 2010, after numerous calls over several days on Geoghegan-Quinn to surrender her pensions as a former Irish politician, which are worth over €104,000 while still in a paid public office, she did so.[10] Her salary in April 2010 as a European Commissioner is €243,000.
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