Mary Coughlan

At the age of 21 years and nine months, Coughlan was the youngest member of the 25th Dáil.

Mary Coughlan (born 28 May 1965) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Tánaiste from 2008 to 2011, Deputy leader of Fianna Fáil from 2008 to 2011, Minister for Health and Children from January 2011 to March 2011, Minister for Education and Skills from 2010 to 2011, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from 2008 to 2010, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food from 2004 to 2008, Minister for Social and Family Affairs from 2002 to 2004 and Minister of State for the Gaeltacht and the Islands from 2001 to 2002.

Coughlan was born in Donegal town in the south of County Donegal in 1965.

She was educated at the Ursuline College in Sligo, where she was a boarder from 1978 to 1983 and later at University College Dublin, graduating with a Social Science degree.

She worked as a social worker for a brief period before becoming involved in politics.

Coming from a political family, Coughlan was always interested in politics, and joined a local party branch at the age of 16.

Her uncle Clement Coughlan was a TD from 1980 until his death in 1983 in a road traffic accident, while her father Cathal Coughlan was a TD from 1983 to 1986 when he died after a short illness.

Her father was Cathal Coughlan, a Fianna Fáil TD, who died in office in June 1986.

The death of her father resulted in Coughlan being co-opted onto Donegal County Council in 1986, which launched her own political career.

She remained on the backbenches of the Dáil for the first thirteen years of her career as a TD, before being appointed a junior Minister.

During this period she served on a number of Oireachtas committees, including the Joint Committee on Tourism, Sport and Recreation and the Joint Committee on the Irish language where she served as chairperson.

Coughlan was also a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Body.

She served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Donegal South-West constituency from 1987 to 2011.

She was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1987 general election as a Fianna Fáil TD for the Donegal South-West constituency.

In 1994, Bertie Ahern became leader of Fianna Fáil and Leader of the Opposition.

In early 1995 he named his new front bench, including Coughlan as Spokesperson on Educational Reform.

She served in this position until 1997 but was not included in the cabinet or junior ministerial team when the party came to power.

In February 2001, Coughlan was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, with responsibility for the Gaeltacht and Islands.

In this role for just sixteen months, she was responsible for securing Government approval for the general scheme of the Official Languages Equality Bill, which aimed to confirm the language rights of citizens and outline their rights when dealing with the State in either official language.

She also oversaw the coming-into-force of an amended Gaeltacht Housing Act, updating the supports available for Irish-speaking households building in or moving to the Gaeltacht.

The Commission on Irish in the Gaeltacht (Comisiún na Gaeltachta) also completed its work under her guidance and Coughlan saw its report approved and published.

During her time in this role, she also established a Working Group on the Creation of Employment in the Gaeltacht.

In addition, during her tenure Coughlan oversaw significant investment in island infrastructure and in the connection of islands to the national electricity grid, including Inishbofin Island, off the County Donegal coast, which was connected for the first time in 2002 by using an underwater cable from the mainland.

After the 2002 general election Coughlan was promoted to the cabinet as Minister for Social and Family Affairs.

Her time in Social and Family Affairs saw increases in social welfare payments and the extension of family supports.

She established the Family Support Agency with a mandate to support families, promote stability in family life, prevent marital breakdown and foster a supportive community environment for families at a local level.

Coughlan received criticism for changes she made regarding the availability of rent supplement.

This was portrayed as targeting the weaker sections of society at a time when the Irish economy was reasonably strong.

She was also widely criticised for cuts she made as Minister to entitlements for widows and widowers after the death of a spouse.

The cuts were part of a wider drive for a reduction in government spending in autumn 2002.

However, many considered these and other similar cutbacks to have been forced upon her by Charlie McCreevy, who was Minister for Finance at the time, and who was blamed for many of his decisions.

She was also involved in resolving a dispute over payments with the country's dentists.

During her time as Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Coughlan was praised for introducing large increases in child benefit and in pensions.

Her work on the pensions element of her portfolio also saw her introduce Personal Retirement Savings Accounts.

Coughlan also established the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman and provided additional funding and support for the State's Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS).

In a 2004 reshuffle, Coughlan succeeded Joe Walsh as Minister for Agriculture and Food, becoming the first woman to hold that portfolio in Ireland.

During her time in this role the country's last two remaining sugar factories, owned by Greencore, were closed.

The Carlow factory closed on 11 March 2005.

Mallow, Ireland's last sugar factory to remain open, closed on 12 May 2006, after operating for 77 years.

Farmers and others were critical of the decision.