51 Facts About Eamon Gilmore

Eamon Gilmore was born on 24 April 1955 and is a European Union diplomat, and a former Irish Labour Party politician.

Eamon Gilmore serves as European Union Special Representative for Human Rights since February 2019.

Eamon Gilmore is the European Union Special Envoy for the Colombian Peace Process since 2015.

Eamon Gilmore was Ireland's Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2011 to 2014, Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2014, Chair of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe from 2012 to 2013, Minister of State at the Department of the Marine from 1994 to 1997.

Eamon Gilmore was a Teachta Dala for the Dun Laoghaire constituency from 1989 to 2016.

Labour entered into a coalition government with Fine Gael, with Gilmore being appointed Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Eamon Gilmore was elected unopposed as Labour Party leader in 2007; he resigned the post in July 2014, and was succeeded by Joan Burton.

Eamon Gilmore was born into a small farming family in Caltra, County Galway in 1955.

Eamon Gilmore received his primary education in Caltra, in a small two-teacher national school.

Eamon Gilmore was taught there through the medium of Irish, and he is a fluent Irish speaker to this day.

Eamon Gilmore entered Garbally College, Ballinasloe, as a boarder in 1967.

Eamon Gilmore was an active member of the Drama Society at the university, where his contemporaries included the theatre director Garry Hynes and actor Marie Mullen who both went on to found the Druid Theatre Company.

Eamon Gilmore took part in the university debating scene, mainly through the Literary and Debating Society.

Eamon Gilmore was elected class representative and later, at the age of 18, was elected President of UCG Students' Union from July 1974 to June 1975.

From 1976 until 1978, Eamon Gilmore served as President of the Union of Students in Ireland.

Eamon Gilmore was heavily involved in organising tax protests in Galway, and resisting redundancies and closures in Kerry.

Eamon Gilmore has described the driving factors which have informed his working life, whether as a trade union officer or public representative.

Eamon Gilmore's brother, John, is a television producer in Washington DC.

Eamon Gilmore said "I'm pro-choice" when asked during the same interview if abortion should be legalised.

Eamon Gilmore published a book in November 2010 entitled Leading Lights: People Who've Inspired Me.

Eamon Gilmore was elected to Dun Laoghaire Borough Council, and to Dublin County Council, on 22 June 1985.

Eamon Gilmore was first elected to Dail Eireann at the 1989 general election as a member of the Workers' Party for the constituency of Dun Laoghaire, and was re-elected at every subsequent general election until his retirement from the Dail in 2016.

Around this time, Eamon Gilmore voiced his support for the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation which campaigns for democratic reformation of the United Nations, and the creation of a more accountable international political system.

Eamon Gilmore became the tenth leader of the Labour Party.

From early on in his Leadership Eamon Gilmore insisted that Labour should aspire to lead the next Government and set about building Labour as a third option for voters.

In September 2009, at the Labour Parliamentary Party Meeting in Waterford, Eamon Gilmore categorically ruled out a coalition with Fianna Fail after the next general election, reiterating what he had said in earlier interviews.

Eamon Gilmore said he was determined that the Labour Party would run enough candidates at the next general election to enable the Irish people to make Labour the largest party in the Dail and to lead the next government.

In July 2010, Eamon Gilmore again ruled out a coalition between his party and Fianna Fail after a general election, even if such a coalition would put him in a position to become Taoiseach.

Eamon Gilmore said his party was well-positioned to win at least one seat in each of the country's 43 constituencies, and two seats in some constituencies in Dublin, Cork, other urban areas and commuter-belt counties.

Eamon Gilmore played a leading role in the modernisation and liberalisation of Ireland's social legislation, most notably on divorce and abortion, and has been to the fore in the campaign for gay marriage.

Eamon Gilmore is often quoted for citing gay marriage as "the civil rights issue of this generation".

Eamon Gilmore was a member of the cabinet committee that steered through Ireland's divorce legislation in 1996, as well as a member of the Divorce Action Group which campaigned for the legalisation of divorce in Ireland.

In 1983, Eamon Gilmore campaigned against the ban on abortion in the Constitution.

In 2013, Eamon Gilmore launched the first review of Irish foreign policy since 1996.

Eamon Gilmore has been a member of the first Economic Management Council, along with Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, since March 2011.

Eamon Gilmore resigned from office on 4 July 2014, he was succeeded as party leader and as Tanaiste by Joan Burton.

Eamon Gilmore led Labour to the best electoral performance in the party's 99-year history at the 2011 general election.

Eamon Gilmore became Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Eamon Gilmore named five ministers to cabinet, six Ministers of State, and Maire Whelan as Attorney General.

Eamon Gilmore recreated the office of the Tanaiste within the Department of the Taoiseach to enhance his control over Government policy.

On 11 November 2012, Eamon Gilmore became the first Irish Government Minister to take part in the annual Remembrance Sunday ceremony in Belfast when he laid a laurel wreath at the Cenotaph at Belfast City Hall to honour those who had died in the First and Second World Wars.

Eamon Gilmore was part of the process which aimed at resolving issues relating to parading, flags and emblems, and the past that was chaired by US diplomat Richard Haass from September to December 2013, and he maintained contact with the parties involved until he was replaced as foreign affairs minister in a cabinet reshuffle the following year.

In November 2011, Eamon Gilmore announced the closure of Ireland's embassies in Iran and the Vatican, and a representative office in East-Timor, on economic grounds.

On 17 June 2014, Eamon Gilmore travelled to Washington DC for two days of meetings, most of which focused on Republican members of the House of Representatives.

On 2 June 2015, Eamon Gilmore announced that he would not be contesting the 2016 general election.

Eamon Gilmore has lectured at universities, think tanks and public policy conferences throughout Europe, the UK, the US, Latin America and Africa.

Eamon Gilmore is a Member of the External Advisory Board of the National University of Ireland, Galway and is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Alpbach Forum in Austria.

On 1 October 2015, Eamon Gilmore was appointed by High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini as European Union Special Envoy for the Colombian Peace Process.

On 19 February 2019, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini nominated Eamon Gilmore to be European Union Special Representative for Human Rights.

Eamon Gilmore's nomination was approved by the Foreign Affairs Council on 20 February 2019.

In 2015, Eamon Gilmore was named by the Washington-based "Foreign Policy" Magazine as one of the 100 leading Global Thinkers for his role in Ireland's Marriage Equality Referendum, which approved same-sex marriage.