Eileen Desmond

Eileen Christine Desmond (née Harrington; 29 December 1932 – 6 January 2005) was an Irish Labour Party politician who served as Minister for Health and Minister for Social Welfare from 1981 to 1982. She served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1965 to 1969, 1973 to 1981 and 1981 to 1987. She served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Munster constituency from 1979 to 1981. She was a Senator for the Industrial and Commercial Panel from 1969 to 1973.

Eileen Desmond
Minister for Health
In office 30 June 1981 – 9 March 1982
Taoiseach	Garret FitzGerald
Preceded by	Michael Woods
Succeeded by	Michael Woods
Minister for Social Welfare
In office 30 June 1981 – 9 March 1982
Taoiseach	Garret FitzGerald
Preceded by	Michael Woods
Succeeded by	Michael Woods
Teachta Dála
In office June 1981 – February 1987
Constituency	Cork South-Central
In office February 1973 – June 1981
In office March 1965 – June 1969
Constituency	Cork Mid
Member of the European Parliament
In office 1 July 1979 – 9 July 1981
Constituency	Munster
Senator
In office 5 November 1969 – 18 February 1973
Constituency	Industrial and Commercial Panel
Personal details
Born	Eileen Christine Harrington (1932-12-29)29 December 1932 Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland
Died	6 January 2005(2005-01-06) (aged 72) Cork, Ireland
Spouse	Dan Desmond ​ ​ (m. 1955; died 1964)​
Children	2
Alma mater	University College Cork

Early life

She was born in Kinsale, County Cork, her father was a postman and part-time fisherman, who went blind when she was aged eleven, her mother was the local seamstress. She was educated locally at the Convent of Mercy in Kinsale, where she was one of only two girls in her class to sit the Leaving Certificate examination. Before entering politics she worked as a civil servant with the Department of Posts and Telegraphs. She married Dan Desmond in 1955, a Labour TD for Cork from 1948 to 1964, and they had two daughters.

Politics

Desmond was elected to Dáil Éireann in a by-election on 10 March 1965, caused by the death of her husband Dan Desmond. Her victory in the Cork Mid constituency led Taoiseach Seán Lemass to dissolve the 17th Dáil, before she could assume her seat, and call a general election. She was elected for the second time in a year, but lost her seat at the 1969 general election. However, Desmond was then elected to the 12th Seanad on the Industrial and Commercial Panel, where she served until her re-election to the 20th Dáil following the 1973 general election. She supported the unsuccessful Contraceptives Bill in 1974.

She was elected to the European Parliament at the 1979 European Parliament election for the Munster constituency. However, her time in Europe was short-lived, as she returned to domestic politics when she was offered a position as Minister and the chance to impact upon national legislation. At the 1981 general election she switched her constituency to Cork South-Central. A Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition came to power and Desmond was appointed Minister for Health and for Social Welfare.

Desmond was the third woman to be appointed to cabinet since the foundation of the state in 1922, the first in a Fine Gael-Labour Party cabinet, and the first female officeholder of the health and social welfare ministries. Desmond was the only woman in that short-lived coalition Cabinet. She created the National Combat Poverty Agency, which addressed inequality. She achieved a 25% increase in social welfare allowance, a level never achieved before. However, the budget was defeated on 27 January 1982, leading to the dissolution of the 22nd Dáil, so the increases never came into effect.

Desmond left politics in 1987 for health reasons, and failed to obtain a seat in 1989. She died in 2005.

External links

• Personal profile of Eileen Desmond in the European Parliament's database of members
• McNamara, Maedhbh (2020). A Women's Place is in the Cabinet: Women Ministers in Irish Government 1919-2019. Drogheda (Ireland): Sea Dog Books. ISBN 978-1-913275-06-8.