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