Mary O'Rourke
Mary O'Rourke (birth name: Mary Lenihan, Irish: Máire Uí Ruairc; born May 31, 1937 in Athlone, County Westmeath ) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician.
Biography
Mary Lenihan came from a politically active family. Her father, Patrick Lenihan was a member of the lower house, her brother Brian was more than two decades Minister in the application made by the Fianna Fáil governments, whose son Brian Joseph is currently Minister of Finance, while another son, Conor is Minister of State with different responsibilities for years.
They even worked as a teacher after graduation and began her national political career in 1981 with the election as a member of the Senate ( Seanad Éireann ), in which she represented the group culture and education until 1982.
On November 24 1982 she was elected as a candidate of the then Fianna Fáil for the first time to the MPs ( Teachta Dala ) of the lower house ( Dáil Éireann ) and represented there until 1992, first the constituency of Longford - Westmeath and then to 2002 the Westmeath constituency.
After the election victory of Fianna Fáil, she was appointed on 10 March 1987 by Prime Minister ( Taoiseach ) Charles Haughey to J. Education Minister in the Cabinet. This office she held until a cabinet reshuffle on 14 November 1991, when she was appointed Minister of Health.
In 1992 she ran for the office of Chairman of the Fianna Fáil. However, they defeated, by six votes, Albert Reynolds ( 61 votes ) and Michael Woods ( ten votes ).
Haugheys successor as Prime Minister, Albert Reynolds, she appointed on 13 February 1992 Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry and Trade. So she was a " junior minister " not the actual cabinet at. Subsequently, she was on 14 January 1993 to 15 December 1994 Minister of State in the Ministry of Enterprise and Employment.
After re- election victory of Fianna Fáil, she was appointed by Prime Minister Bertie Ahern to the Minister for Public Enterprise on June 26, 1997. This office she held until June 6, 2002.
After leaving the Cabinet and the House of Commons, she was nominated by Prime Minister Ahern on 26 July 2002 as a member of the Senate and was there from September 2002 to 2007 leader of the government group ( Leader of the Seanad Éireann ).
From 2007 to February 2011, O'Rourke again represented the constituency of Longford - Westmeath in the House.
For her autobiography Just Mary: My Memoir in 2012 she was awarded an Irish Book Award.