Eileen Desmond: Eileen Desmond, who has died aged 72, had a promising ministerial career cut short through ill-health and electoral misfortune but for over 20 years she campaigned for women's rights and the under-privileged while representing Cork constituencies.
During much of this time she was a widow with two young children. Her political career spanned a wide spectrum. At various times, she was a member of Cork county council, the Dáil, the Seanad, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and the New Ireland Forum.
Her brief ministerial career from June 1981 to February 1982 in charge of the double portfolio of health and social welfare was dogged by ill-health but she fought successfully for a 25 per cent increase in social welfare payments in a Budget where spending cuts were the order of the day. The Fine Gael-Labour Coalition Government fell over the budget but she was not given a chance, mainly for health reasons, to return to high office.
She was born on December 29th, 1932, in Old Head, Kinsale. Her father, Michael Harrington, was a postman and part-time fisherman but he went blind when she was 11. She later recalled that life was very hard in those times. She was educated at the local Convent of Mercy and then worked in the Department of Post and Telegraphs in Dublin.
It was there she met Dan Desmond, the Labour TD for Mid-Cork. They married in 1955 and had two daughters, Honor and Paula. Dan, who had become deputy leader of the party, died suddenly in 1965. His young widow, who was recovering from tuberculosis, was selected to run in the by-election. It became of crucial importance when the Taoiseach, Seán Lemass, who was leading a minority government, threatened to call a general election if the Fianna Fáil candidate, Flor Crowley, was beaten.
Mr Crowley topped the poll but Eileen Desmond won on transfers. Mr Lemass duly called a general election before she could take her seat. She topped the poll and was appointed Labour spokesperson for education. But disaster came in the 1969 general election. The Mid-Cork constituency had been re-drawn and lost the Bandon and Kinsale areas which had strong Desmond support. In addition, Labour headquarters had insisted on running two candidates in most constituencies and her vote was split resulting in defeat.
She went on to win a Seanad seat, however. This meant a serious drop in income. Her mother, Ellen, came to live with the family at Carrigaline and helped run the small shop there.
In 1973, Eileen Desmond won back her seat for Labour. When Brendan Corish resigned in 1977 after the FG-Labour coalition was defeated, she supported Frank Cluskey for the leadership. She was appointed Labour spokesperson for justice.
In 1979, she stood in the election for the first directly elected European Parliament and won a Labour seat in Munster. But two years later, Frank Cluskey asked her to give up that seat and run in the June 1981 general election in the new Cork South-Central constituency. She did so successfully and was rewarded with the health and social welfare portfolios. She was the first woman to be appointed to such a senior Cabinet post while being the third woman to serve as a minister.
Almost immediately, she suffered a nose haemorrhage which became life-threatening. She had to be stretchered into Leinster House after a journey from Cork for a vital vote. When she recovered she had to grapple with a dual portfolio which would have been a burden for anyone in the best of their health. She announced a new national poverty agency and battled in the estimates for an historically high 25 per cent rise in social welfare payments.
When that Government fell, she was appointed Labour spokesperson for health but did not return to Government when Fianna Fáil was defeated in November 1982. Her blood pressure was still alarmingly high. A few months earlier, she was the only woman TD to vote against the holding of a referendum on the Fianna Fáil amendment to include an anti-abortion clause in the Constitution. This was seen as a courageous step for a TD with a largely rural base.
In 1986, she announced that she would retire from the Dáil at the next election on health grounds. When her health improved later, she made two unsuccessful attempts to return to the European Parliament but she had the satisfaction of seeing her younger daughter, Paula, succeeding in Cork county council elections and becoming a lady mayor. Her elder daughter, Honor, qualified as a barrister. She is survived by her daughters and two grandchildren.
Eileen Desmond: born December 29th, 1932; died January 6th, 2005