Minister for Justice and Equality

Minister for Justice and Equality
Incumbent Frances Fitzgerald, TD since 8 May 2014
Appointer	President of Ireland on the nomination of the Taoiseach
Inaugural holder	Michael Collins as Minister for Home Affairs
Formation	22 January 1919
Website	www.justice.ie

The Minister for Justice and Equality (Irish: An tAire Dlí agus Cirt agus Comhionannais) is the senior minister at the Department of Justice and Equality in the Government of Ireland. The Minister has overall responsibility for law and order in Ireland.

The current Minister for Justice and Equality is Frances Fitzgerald, TD. She is assisted by:

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, TD – Minister of State for New Communities, Culture and Equality

History

From 1919 until 1923 the holder of the justice portfolio was known as the Minister for Home Affairs. In 1997, the portfolio of the then-Minister for Justice was amalgamated with that of the Minister for Equality and Law Reform to create a Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, a position which was retained until 2010.

Overview

The Minister's and the Department's main areas of responsibility include:

Implementing government policy and proposing new policy on crime, immigration, asylum, criminal and civil law reform and the criminal justice system in general.
Implementation of government policy and proposing new policy in relation to national security (an area many countries assign to a separate 'Home' or 'Homeland Security' minister)
Control and reform of the Garda Síochána
Pardons (which are formally given by the President on the binding "advice" of the government, after proposal by the Minister for Justice - a rarely used power)
Implementation of core elements of the Good Friday Agreement.

List of office-holders

Denotes acting Minister

No.	Name	Term of office		Party

1.	Michael Collins	22 January 1919	1 April 1919		Sinn Féin
2.	Arthur Griffith	2 April 1919	22 August 1921		Sinn Féin
3.	Austin Stack^[1]	22 August 1921	9 January 1922		Sinn Féin
4.	Eamonn Duggan	10 January 1922	9 September 1922		Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin
5.	Kevin O'Higgins	30 August 1922	19 September 1923		Cumann na nGaedheal

No.	Name	Term of office		Party
	Kevin O'Higgins	19 September 1923	10 July 1927		Cumann na nGaedheal
6.	W. T. Cosgrave	10 July 1927	12 October 1927		Cumann na nGaedheal
7.	James FitzGerald-Kenney	12 October 1927	9 March 1932		Cumann na nGaedheal
8.	James Geoghegan	9 March 1932	8 February 1933		Fianna Fáil
9.	P. J. Ruttledge	8 February 1933	8 September 1939		Fianna Fáil
10.	Gerald Boland (1st time)	8 September 1939	18 February 1948		Fianna Fáil
11.	Seán Mac Eoin	18 February 1948	7 March 1951		Fine Gael
12.	Daniel Morrissey	7 March 1951	13 June 1951		Fine Gael
	Gerald Boland (2nd time)	13 June 1951	2 June 1954		Fianna Fáil
13.	James Everett	2 June 1954	20 March 1957		Labour Party
14.	Oscar Traynor	20 March 1957	11 October 1961		Fianna Fáil
15.	Charles Haughey	11 October 1961	8 October 1964		Fianna Fáil
16.	Seán Lemass (acting)	8 October 1964	3 November 1964		Fianna Fáil
17.	Brian Lenihan, Snr	3 November 1964	26 March 1968		Fianna Fáil
18.	Micheál Ó Móráin	27 March 1968	5 May 1970		Fianna Fáil
19.	Desmond O'Malley	5 May 1970	14 March 1973		Fianna Fáil
20.	Patrick Cooney	14 March 1973	5 July 1977		Fine Gael
21.	Gerry Collins (1st time)	5 July 1977	30 June 1981		Fianna Fáil
22.	Jim Mitchell	30 June 1981	9 March 1982		Fine Gael
23.	Seán Doherty	9 March 1982	14 December 1982		Fianna Fáil
24.	Michael Noonan	14 December 1982	14 February 1986		Fine Gael
25.	Alan Dukes	14 February 1986	10 March 1987		Fine Gael
	Gerry Collins (2nd time)	10 March 1987	12 July 1989		Fianna Fáil
26.	Ray Burke	12 July 1989	11 February 1992		Fianna Fáil
27.	Pádraig Flynn	11 February 1992	4 January 1993		Fianna Fáil
28.	Máire Geoghegan-Quinn	4 January 1993	15 December 1994		Fianna Fáil
29.	Nora Owen	15 December 1994	26 June 1997		Fine Gael
30.	John O'Donoghue	26 June 1997	8 July 1997		Fianna Fáil

No.	Name	Term of office		Party
	John O'Donoghue	8 July 1997	6 June 2002		Fianna Fáil
31.	Michael McDowell	6 June 2002	14 June 2007		Progressive Democrats
32.	Brian Lenihan, Jnr	14 June 2007	7 May 2008		Fianna Fáil
33.	Dermot Ahern	7 May 2008	23 March 2010		Fianna Fáil

No.	Name	Term of office		Party
	Dermot Ahern	23 March 2010	19 January 2011		Fianna Fáil
34.	Brendan Smith	20 January 2011	9 March 2011		Fianna Fáil

No.	Name	Term of office		Party
35.	Alan Shatter	9 March 2011	7 May 2014		Fine Gael
36.	Frances Fitzgerald	8 May 2014	Incumbent		Fine Gael

References

↑ Austin Stack bore the title of Secretary of State for Home Affairs.

External links

Department of Justice and Equality

Government of Ireland

Political posts	Taoiseach (prime minister) Tánaiste (deputy prime minister)

Ministries	Agriculture, Food and the Marine Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Children and Youth Affairs Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Defence Education and Skills Environment, Community and Local Government Finance Foreign Affairs and Trade Health Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Justice and Equality Public Expenditure and Reform Social Protection Transport, Tourism and Sport

Former ministries	Communications Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs Co-ordination of Defensive Measures Economic Affairs Fine Arts Industries Irish Labour Posts and Telegraphs Public Service Publicity Supplies

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