13 Facts About Eileen Desmond

Eileen Christine Desmond was an Irish Labour Party politician who served as Minister for Health and Minister for Social Welfare from 1981 to 1982.

Eileen Desmond was a Teachta Dala from 1965 to 1969 and 1973 to 1987.

Eileen Desmond served as a Member of the European Parliament for the Munster constituency from 1979 to 1981 and as a Senator for the Industrial and Commercial Panel from 1969 to 1973.

Eileen Desmond 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.

Eileen Desmond 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.

Eileen Desmond married Dan Desmond in 1955, a Labour TD for Cork from 1948 to 1964, and they had two daughters.

Eileen Desmond was elected for the second time in a year, but lost her seat at the 1969 general election.

However, Eileen Desmond was then elected to the 12th Seanad on the Industrial and Commercial Panel, where she served until her re-election to the 20th Dail following the 1973 general election.

Eileen Desmond was elected to the European Parliament at the 1979 European Parliament election for the Munster constituency.

Eileen 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.

Eileen Desmond was the only woman in that short-lived coalition Cabinet.

Eileen Desmond created the National Combat Poverty Agency, which addressed inequality.

Eileen Desmond left politics in 1987 for health reasons but stood unsuccessfully in the 1989 European Parliament election after her health improved.