Niamh Bhreathnach

Niamh Bhreathnach (born 1 June 1945) is an Irish Labour Party politician. She was a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dún Laoghaire from 1992 until 1997, and served as Minister for Education from 1993 until 1997.^[1] She holds the distinction of being one of only five TDs to be appointed Minister on their first day in the Dáil.

Bhreathnach was born in Dublin in 1945, the daughter of Breandán Breathnach, a civil servant and highly-regarded collector of Irish music. Educated at Dominican College Sion Hill and Froebel College of Education, Dublin, she later qualified as a remedial teacher.

Bhreathnach was chairperson of the Labour Party from 1990 until 1993. She was elected as a Labour Party TD for Dún Laoghaire at the 1992 general election, serving until her defeat at the 1997 general election. In 1993 she became Minister for Education in the Fianna Fáil-Labour Party coalition. She remained in that post during the "Rainbow Coalition" until 1997. During her time as minister, the first White paper on Education was published, tuition fees for third-level institutions were abolished, and the Regional Technical Colleges were upgraded to Institutes of Technology. She also brought in the legacy posts, teaching positions for disadvantaged schools.^[2]

After losing her Dáil seat in 1997, Bhreathnach was nominated by the outgoing Taoiseach, John Bruton, to the last days of the 20th Seanad.^[3] She sought a nomination from the Labour Party for the elections to the 21st Seanad, and there was some surprise when she was not one of the five candidates nominated by the party. She did not seek a nomination from the nominating bodies.^[4]

She stood again for the Dáil at the 2002 general election, but did not regain her seat, and did not contest the 2007 general election. She is a member of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council for the Blackrock local electoral area since 2004.^[5]

References

External links

• Niamh Bhreathnach's page on the Labour Party website