Minister for Health (Ireland): Difference between revisions

Minister for Health
Minister for Health
	Incumbent; Stephen Donnelly; since 27 June 2020
	Department of Health
Member of	Cabinet; Council of the European Union; Dáil Éireann;
Reports to	Taoiseach
Seat	Dublin, Ireland
Appointer	President of Ireland on the nomination of the Taoiseach
Inaugural holder	James Ryan
Formation	22 January 1947
Website	Department of Health

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Revision as of 17:58, 30 June 2020

The Minister for Health (Template:Lang-ga) is the senior minister at the Department of Health in the Government of Ireland and is responsible for healthcare in the Republic of Ireland and related services.

The current Minister for Health is Stephen Donnelly, TD.

History

Health care formed part of the portfolio of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health until 22 January 1947. On that date the new position of Minister for Health was created, with complete control over all policy regarding health care provision in Ireland. In later years, the health portfolio was often coupled with the social welfare portfolio, in which case the incumbent was known as the Minister for Health and Social Welfare.

In recent years, and especially since the tenure of Michael Noonan in 1994–1997, being appointed as minister has become somewhat of a "poisoned chalice" in government circles and a portfolio to be avoided by aspiring politicians, during his tenure Brian Cowen referred to the Department of Health as Angola due the fact that there were landmines everywhere.^[1] A number of scandals, mostly due to medical negligence, have meant that the minister immediately becomes identified with the scandal. For instance the Hepatitis C scandal, the withholding of baby organs without parental consent or knowledge, the Michael Neary saga in Drogheda and other high-profile medical scandals have dogged the minister and department. Additionally the minister has to deal with logistic issues not seen in other departments such as strikes, shortages and queues which are all too familiar in clinics and hospitals around the country.

Overview

The Minister's duties include the creation and assessment of policy for the health services. The main policy sections of the Department, together with their responsibilities, are:

Child Care

Child care legislation
National Children's Office

Continuing Care

Services for homeless adults
Services for people with disabilities
Services for the elderly and palliative care

Finance

Health insurance
Hospital planning
Public-Private Partnerships

Personnel Management and Development

Nursing policy
Personnel management and development

Primary Care

Community health (child health, dental services, AIDS, reproductive health)
General medical services

Secondary Care

Blood policy
Hospital services

Strategic Policy and Corporate Services

Corporate Services
Health promotion
Health Strategy Legislation

List of office-holders

Denotes acting Minister

No.	Name	Term of office		Party
Minister for Local Government and Public Health 1924–1947
1	Séamus Burke	2 June 1924	23 June 1927 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #87CEFA;" data-sort-value="Cumann na nGaedheal" \|	Cumann na nGaedheal
2	Richard Mulcahy	23 June 1927	9 March 1932 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #87CEFA;" data-sort-value="Cumann na nGaedheal" \|	Cumann na nGaedheal
3	Seán T. O'Kelly	9 March 1932	8 September 1939 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
4	P. J. Ruttledge	8 September 1939	14 August 1941 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
5	Éamon de Valera (acting)	15 August 1941	18 August 1941 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
6	Seán MacEntee	18 August 1941	22 January 1947 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
Minister for Health 1947–1997
No.	Name	Term of office		Party
1	Dr. James Ryan (1st time)^[a]	22 January 1947	18 February 1948 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
2	Dr. Noël Browne	18 February 1948	11 April 1951 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #DDFFDD;" data-sort-value="Clann na Poblachta" \|	Clann na Poblachta
3	John A. Costello (acting)	12 April 1951	13 June 1951 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #6699FF;" data-sort-value="Fine Gael" \|	Fine Gael
	Dr. James Ryan (2nd time)^[a]	13 June 1951	2 June 1954 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
4	Tom O'Higgins	2 June 1954	20 March 1957 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #6699FF;" data-sort-value="Fine Gael" \|	Fine Gael
5	Seán MacEntee^[a]	20 March 1957	21 April 1965 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
6	Donogh O'Malley	21 April 1965	13 July 1966 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
7	Seán Flanagan	13 July 1966	2 July 1969 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
8	Erskine H. Childers	2 July 1969	14 March 1973 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
9	Brendan Corish^[a]	14 March 1973	5 July 1977 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #CC0000;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (Ireland)" \|	Labour
10	Charles Haughey^[a]	5 July 1977	11 December 1979 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
11	Michael Woods (1st time)^[a]	12 December 1979	30 June 1981 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
12	Eileen Desmond^[a]	30 June 1981	9 March 1982 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #CC0000;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (Ireland)" \|	Labour
	Michael Woods (2nd time)^[a]	9 March 1982	14 December 1982 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
13	Barry Desmond^[a]	14 December 1982	20 January 1987 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #CC0000;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (Ireland)" \|	Labour
14	John Boland^[b]	20 January 1987	10 March 1987 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #6699FF;" data-sort-value="Fine Gael" \|	Fine Gael
15	Dr. Rory O'Hanlon	10 March 1987	14 November 1991 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
16	Mary O'Rourke	14 November 1991	11 February 1992 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
17	Dr. John O'Connell	11 February 1992	12 January 1993 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
18	Brendan Howlin	12 January 1993	17 November 1994 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #CC0000;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (Ireland)" \|	Labour
	Michael Woods (3rd time)^[a]	17 November 1994	15 December 1994 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
19	Michael Noonan	15 December 1994	26 June 1997 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #6699FF;" data-sort-value="Fine Gael" \|	Fine Gael
20	Brian Cowen	26 June 1997	12 July 1997 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
Minister for Health and Children 1997–2011
No.	Name	Term of office		Party
	Brian Cowen	12 July 1997	27 January 2000 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
21	Micheál Martin	27 January 2000	29 September 2004 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
22	Mary Harney	29 September 2004	19 January 2011	style="background-color: Template:Progressive Democrats/meta/color" \|	PD / Ind^[c]
23	Mary Coughlan^[d]	20 January 2011	9 March 2011 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil
Minister for Health 2011–present
No.	Name	Term of office		Party
24	Dr. James Reilly	9 March 2011	11 July 2014 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #6699FF;" data-sort-value="Fine Gael" \|	Fine Gael
25	Dr. Leo Varadkar	11 July 2014	6 May 2016 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #6699FF;" data-sort-value="Fine Gael" \|	Fine Gael
26	Simon Harris	6 May 2016	27 June 2020 style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #6699FF;" data-sort-value="Fine Gael" \|	Fine Gael
27	Stephen Donnelly	27 June 2020	Incumbent style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #66BB66;" data-sort-value="Fianna Fáil" \|	Fianna Fáil

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Also Minister for Social Welfare
^ Also Minister for the Environment.
^ Harney was an Independent member of the government from the disbandment of the Progressive Democrats on 20 November 2009.
^ Also Minister for Education and Skills.

References

^ Fergal Bowers (1 January 2003). "Heath – review of the year". IrishHealth.com. Retrieved 15 May 2008.

External links

[sw-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Also Minister for Social Welfare

[3] Also Minister for the Environment.

[4] Harney was an Independent member of the government from the disbandment of the Progressive Democrats on 20 November 2009.

[5] Also Minister for Education and Skills.

[1] Fergal Bowers (1 January 2003). "Heath – review of the year". IrishHealth.com. Retrieved 15 May 2008.

[1]

[a]

[b]

[c]

[d]

@@ Line 120: / Line 120: @@
 |-
 |1
-|[[James Ryan (Irish politician)|James Ryan]] ''(1st time)''{{efn|name=sw|Also [[Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection|Minister for Social Welfare]]}}
+|[[Physician|Dr.]] [[James Ryan (Irish politician)|James Ryan]] ''(1st time)''{{efn|name=sw|Also [[Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection|Minister for Social Welfare]]}}
 |22 January 1947
 |18 February 1948
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-|[[Noël Browne]]
+|[[Physician|Dr.]] [[Noël Browne]]
 |18 February 1948
 |11 April 1951
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-|[[James Ryan (Irish politician)|James Ryan]] ''(2nd time)''{{efn|name=sw}}
+|[[Physician|Dr.]] [[James Ryan (Irish politician)|James Ryan]] ''(2nd time)''{{efn|name=sw}}
 |13 June 1951
 |2 June 1954
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-|[[Rory O'Hanlon]]
+|[[Physician|Dr.]] [[Rory O'Hanlon]]
 |10 March 1987
 |14 November 1991
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 |17
-|[[John O'Connell (Dublin politician)|John O'Connell]]
+|[[Physician|Dr.]] [[John O'Connell (Dublin politician)|John O'Connell]]
 |11 February 1992
 |12 January 1993
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-|[[James Reilly (Irish politician)|James Reilly]]
+|[[Physician|Dr.]] [[James Reilly (Irish politician)|James Reilly]]
 |9 March 2011
 |11 July 2014
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 |-
 |25
-|[[Leo Varadkar]]
+|[[Physician|Dr.]] [[Leo Varadkar]]
 |11 July 2014
 |6 May 2016

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