Mervyn Taylor

Mervyn Taylor (born 1 December 1931) is a former solicitor, Irish Labour Party politician and government minister.^[1]

Early life

He was born to a Jewish family in Dublin. He was educated at Zion School, Wesley College Dublin and at Trinity College, Dublin where he qualified as a solicitor.

Legal practice

He worked for Herman Good Solicitors alongside Herman Good and future district judge, Hubert Wine. Good's involvement in the Labour Party was instrumental in Taylor getting involved in politics.^[2] He later established his own firm, Taylor and Buchalter Solicitors, with the late Don Buchalter, and practised as a solicitor for over 50 years before retiring from active practice in his 70s. He continued as a consultant to the firm of Taylor and Buchalter Solicitors for most of his 70s.

Politics

Taylor was elected to Dublin County Council in the 1970s, and to Dáil Éireann as a Labour Party Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin South–West at the 1981 general election, on his third attempt.^[3] He then held the seat at every election until his retirement from politics in 1997.

He was Chairman of the Labour Party, and Labour chief whip, from 1981 to 1988. He was assistant government chief whip from 1981 to 1982, and again from 1982 to 1987. In 1993, he was appointed as Minister for Labour (for a brief period) and then served as Minister for Equality and Law Reform during the two governments of 1993–94 and 1994–97.

Legislation

In 1995, Taylor was in charge of the government proposal to remove from the constitution the prohibition of divorce legislation, steering the relevant bills through Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann, and winning the subsequent referendum by the narrow margin of 0.5 per cent. In the course of the campaign, he survived criticism of the measure directed at his Jewish faith, as well as a Supreme Court ruling that public monies could not properly be spent in promoting the government's opinion on a referendum proposal.

His other major project was the introduction of two wide-ranging anti-discrimination measures, the Employment Equality Bill, and the Equal Status Bill. These were struck down by the Supreme Court but revised versions were approved by the Government in the final months of Taylor's term of office, and were ultimately published and enacted during the following Dáil term.

Family

Taylor is married to Marilyn Fisher, who is the author of numerous books for young people. They have two sons and a daughter.

References