Mary Harney

Mary Harney, TD
File:Maryharney2.jpg
Minister for Health & Children
Incumbent
Assumed office September 29, 2004
Preceded by	Micheál Martin
Constituency	Dublin Mid West
Personal details
Born	11 March, 1953 Ballinasloe, County Galway
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Progressive Democrats

Mary Harney born (11 March. 1953 ) is an Irish politician and was the leader of the Progressive Democrats (the sixth largest political party in Ireland) between 1993 and 2006. A TD for Dublin Mid West she served as Tánaiste from 1997-2006, and as Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment from 1997-2004, and is the current Minister for Health and Children. Harney is currently the longest-serving female member of Dáil Éireann.

Early & Private Life

Mary Harney was born in Ballinasloe, County Galway in 1953. Her parents, who lived in nearby Ahascragh, were both farmers but her family moved to Newcastle, County Dublin shortly after her birth. She was educated at the Convent of Mercy, Inchicore and Presentation Convent, Clondalkin before studying at Trinity College, Dublin.

During her time at university she made history by becoming the first female auditor of the College Historical Society. In 1976 she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Modern Studies and for a brief time was a secondary school teacher at Castleknock College in Dublin.

In November 2001 Harney married Brian Geoghegan, a business leader, in a low-key afternoon ceremony in Dublin on a day in which she attended to a number of other significant political meetings.

Fianna Fáil

She came to the attention of Fianna Fáil leader Jack Lynch and stood unsuccessfully as a Fianna Fáil candidate in the 1977 general election. She was then appointed to Seanad Éireann by Lynch who had become Taoiseach. She holds the record as the youngest Senator in Seanad Éireann, being 24 on appointment.

In 1979 Harney had her first electoral success when she was elected to Dublin County Council. Two years later she was successfully elected to the Dáil in the 1981 general election for Dublin South West. She has retained her seat at every election since then. Like many others in Fianna Fáil Harney, faced a number of problems from party leader Charles J. Haughey. As a leading member of the so-called Gang of 22 she was expelled from the party after voting in favour of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985.

Progressive Democrats

Harney went on the become a founder-member of the Progressive Democrats with Desmond O'Malley and Bobby Molloy in 1986. Many other disaffected TDs followed suit. The new political party put the economic recovery of the country at the top of their political priorities.

In 1989 the Progressive Democrats entered into a coalition government with Haughey's Fianna Fáil party. Harney was appointed Minister of State with responsibility for Environmental Protection. As Minister of State she legsislated to ban the sale of bituminous coal in Dublin, thus eliminating the city's infamous smog.

She served in this position until the party withdrew from government in late 1992. In February 1993 Harney was appointed deputy-leader of the Progressive Democrats, becoming party leader in October of that year. She became the first woman to lead an Irish political party with parliamentary representatation when she succeeded Desmond O'Malley as leader.

In Government

Following the 1997 general election and lengthy negotiations the Progressive Democrats entered into coalition government with Fianna Fáil. Harney was appointed the first female Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment.

Following the 2002 general election Harney led the Progressive Democrats, who had doubled their seats from four to eight, back into coalition with Fianna Fáil, the first time a government had been re-elected since 1969. She was re-appointed Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment but was reported in 2003 as seeking a change. In a government reshuffle on September 29 2004, she was appointed Minister for Health & Children.

Harney was Ireland's representative to the European Council of Ministers for the Software Patents Directive. Since the Council's first reading fell during the Irish Presidency of the European Council, she was chair of the meeting that discarded the amendments by the European Parliament which confirmed the exclusion of software innovations from what constitutes patentable subject matter.

In December 2001, Harney used a Government plane which was 50% funded by the European Commission to travel to County Leitrim to open a friend's off license in Manorhamilton. Harney later apologised for having abused her position in using the plane for non government business and admitted that using the plane was wrong. The aircraft was to be used 90% of the time exclusively for maritime surveillance. .

In May 2006, the Irish Nurses Organisation unanimously passed a motion of no confidence in Mary Harney, accusing her of being negative and antagonistic towards nurses. Her policy of transferring private beds in public hospitals to privately operated hospitals has also attracted criticism. .

In March 2006, 16 months after she took office as health minister, the INO claimed that a record number of 455 people were waiting on hospital trolleys on one day (although the Health Service Executive gave a figure of 363 people waiting on hospital trolleys for the same day). In June 2006, the Health Consumer Powerhouse ranked the Irish health service as the second least "consumer-friendly" in the European Union and Switzerland, coming 25th out of 26 countries, ahead of only Lithuania.

In July 2006 Ireland on Sunday reported that Mary Harney's mother, Mrs Sarah Harney jumped a queue of two emergency cases to receive hip surgery at The Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Tallaght. The allegation was strongly denied by the minister.

As Tánaiste, her current annual salary is €216,694.

Resignation as Party Leader

On 7 September 2006 Mary Harney announced that she was resigning as leader of the Progressive Democrats and that she would remain leader until a successor was chosen. She said she wanted to continue as Minister for Health but stated that it was a matter for her successor and the Taoiseach. She was succeeded by Justice Minister Michael McDowell after Tom Parlon and backbencher Liz O'Donnell nominated him.

Political career

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