Minister for Education and Skills

Minister for
Education and Skills
Incumbent
Richard Bruton
since 6 May 2016
Appointer President of Ireland on the nomination of the Taoiseach
Inaugural holder John J. O'Kelly as Minister for Education
Formation 26 August 1921
Website www.education.ie

The Minister for Education and Skills (Irish: An tAire Oideachais agus Scileanna) is the senior minister at the Department of Education and Skills in the Government of Ireland.

The current Minister for Education and Skills is Richard Bruton, TD. He is assisted by:

Overview

The Minister engages in a wide range of activities relating to education in the Republic of Ireland, including policy planning, quality assurance and the provision of a broad range of services.

The department officially aims to:

In recent years some of these functions have been devolved to statutory authorities, in particular the Higher Education Authority, the National Qualifications Authority and the State Examinations Commission. Irish universities and colleges are to a large extent free of government control, with this being largely limited to policy formation and statistics preparation.

Until September 1997 the department was known simply as the "Department of Education" and on 23 March 2010 the department was renamed from Department of Education and Science to its current title.

List of office-holders

  Denotes acting Minister
No. Name Term of office Party
1. John J. O'Kelly[1] 26 August 1921 9 January 1922 Sinn Féin
2. Michael Hayes[2] 11 January 1922 9 September 1922 Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin
3. Fionán Lynch[2] 1 April 1922 30 August 1922 Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin
4. Eoin MacNeill 30 August 1922 24 November 1925 Cumann na nGaedheal
5. John M. O'Sullivan 28 January 1926 9 March 1932 Cumann na nGaedheal
6. Thomas Derrig (1st time) 9 March 1932 8 September 1939 Fianna Fáil
7. Seán T. O'Kelly 8 September 1939 27 September 1939 Fianna Fáil
8. Éamon de Valera (acting) 27 September 1939 18 June 1940 Fianna Fáil
Thomas Derrig (2nd time) 18 June 1940 18 February 1948 Fianna Fáil
9. Richard Mulcahy (1st time) 18 February 1948 13 June 1951 Fine Gael
10. Seán Moylan 13 June 1951 2 June 1954 Fianna Fáil
Richard Mulcahy (2nd time) 2 June 1954 20 March 1957 Fine Gael
11. Jack Lynch (1st time) 20 March 1957 23 June 1959 Fianna Fáil
12. Patrick Hillery 23 June 1959 21 April 1965 Fianna Fáil
13. George Colley 21 April 1965 13 July 1966 Fianna Fáil
14. Donogh O'Malley 13 July 1966 10 March 1968 Fianna Fáil
Jack Lynch (acting) 10 March 1968 26 March 1968 Fianna Fáil
15. Brian Lenihan 26 March 1968 2 July 1969 Fianna Fáil
16. Pádraig Faulkner 2 July 1969 14 March 1973 Fianna Fáil
17. Richard Burke 14 March 1973 2 December 1976 Fine Gael
18. Peter Barry 2 December 1976 5 July 1977 Fine Gael
19. John Wilson 5 July 1977 30 June 1981 Fianna Fáil
20. John Boland 30 June 1981 9 March 1982 Fine Gael
21. Martin O'Donoghue 9 March 1982 6 October 1982 Fianna Fáil
22. Charles Haughey (acting) 7 October 1982 27 October 1982 Fianna Fáil
23. Gerard Brady 27 October 1982 14 December 1982 Fianna Fáil
24. Gemma Hussey 14 December 1982 14 February 1986 Fine Gael
25. Patrick Cooney 14 February 1986 10 March 1987 Fine Gael
26. Mary O'Rourke 10 March 1987 14 November 1991 Fianna Fáil
27. Noel Davern 14 November 1991 11 February 1992 Fianna Fáil
28. Séamus Brennan 11 February 1992 12 January 1993 Fianna Fáil
29. Niamh Bhreathnach (1st time) 12 January 1993 17 November 1994 Labour Party
30. Michael Smith 18 November 1994 15 December 1994 Fianna Fáil
Niamh Bhreathnach (2nd time) 15 December 1994 26 June 1997 Labour Party
31. Micheál Martin 26 June 1997 30 September 1997 Fianna Fáil
No. Name Term of office Party
Micheál Martin 30 September 1997 27 January 2000 Fianna Fáil
32. Michael Woods 27 January 2000 6 June 2002 Fianna Fáil
33. Noel Dempsey 6 June 2002 29 September 2004 Fianna Fáil
34. Mary Hanafin 29 September 2004 7 May 2008 Fianna Fáil
35. Batt O'Keeffe 7 May 2008 23 March 2010 Fianna Fáil
No. Name Term of office Party
36. Mary Coughlan 23 March 2010 9 March 2011 Fianna Fáil
37. Ruairi Quinn 9 March 2011 11 July 2014 Labour Party
38. Jan O'Sullivan 11 July 2014 6 May 2016 Labour Party
39. Richard Bruton 6 May 2016 Incumbent Fine Gael

See also

References

  1. ↑ John J. O'Kelly bore the title of Secretary for Education.
  2. 1 2 The terms of office of Michael Hayes and Fionán Lynch overlap. This is because they were ministers under two different but overlapping political systems. Michael Hayes was a member of the Ministry of the Irish Republic, while Fionán Lynch was a minister of the Provisional Government. For a period in 1922 an anomalous situation existed in which these two administrations overlapped.
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