Joan Burton

Joan Burton
Burton in 2017
Tánaiste
In office
4 July 2014 – 6 May 2016
TaoiseachEnda Kenny
Preceded byEamon Gilmore
Succeeded byFrances Fitzgerald
Leader of the Labour Party
In office
4 July 2014 – 20 May 2016
DeputyAlan Kelly
Preceded byEamon Gilmore
Succeeded byBrendan Howlin
Minister for Social Protection
In office
9 March 2011 – 6 May 2016
TaoiseachEnda Kenny
Preceded byÉamon Ó Cuív
Succeeded byLeo Varadkar
Deputy leader of the Labour Party
In office
4 October 2007 – 4 July 2014
LeaderEamon Gilmore
Preceded byLiz McManus
Succeeded byAlan Kelly
Minister of State
1994–1997Foreign Affairs
1993–1994Social Welfare
Teachta Dála
In office
May 2002 – February 2020
In office
November 1992 – June 1997
ConstituencyDublin West
Personal details
Born (1949-02-01) 1 February 1949
Stoneybatter, Dublin, Ireland
PartyLabour Party
Spouse
Patrick Carroll
​
(m. 1978)​
Children1
EducationUniversity College Dublin

Joan Burton (born 1 February 1949) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as Tánaiste and leader of the Labour Party from 2014 to 2016. She served as a TD for Dublin West from 1992 to 1997 and from 2002 to 2020.[1]

Early life

Burton is a native of Stoneybatter, Dublin. She was adopted by the Burton family as a baby and was brought up in Inchicore.[2] Her father worked in the local iron foundry. She was educated at St. Gabriel's National School, Cowper Street St. Joseph Sisters of Charity Secondary School, Stanhope Street and University College Dublin, where she graduated with a degree in commerce. She is also a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. She has worked as a lecturer in accountancy at the Dublin Institute of Technology and the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.[3]

Political career

Early years: 1989–1997

Burton first stood for election at the 1989 general election, as one of two Labour Party candidates in Dublin Central.[4] At the 1991 Dublin County Council election in Fingal, she was elected for the Mulhuddart local electoral area.[4]

Burton was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1992 general election as a Labour Party TD for Dublin West in the 27th Dáil.[4] She was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Social Welfare with responsibility for poverty in the Fianna Fáil–Labour Party coalition that was formed in January 1993.[5] Labour left the coalition in November 1994.[6] In December 1994, a Rainbow Coalition of Fine Gael–Labour–Democratic Left was formed, and Burton was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs.[7] She held this position until the coalition stood down after the 1997 general election.

Loss of seat and re-election: 1997–2007

She lost her seat at the 1997 general election to Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party. Burton was elected at the 1999 Fingal County Council election for the Castleknock local electoral area.[4] She was re-elected to the Dáil for Dublin West at the 2002 general election.[4] She was appointed Labour Party Spokesperson for Finance. She was a candidate for the deputy leadership of the party in 2002, obtaining 24% of the first preference vote. From 1997 to 2002, she had returned to lecturing.

Labour Deputy leadership: 2007–2014

Burton became deputy leader of the Labour Party in September 2007. She was re-elected for Dublin West at the 2011 general election, topping the poll with 9,627 votes,[8] and was the first TD in the country to be elected to the 31st Dáil.[9] Fine Gael and Labour formed a coalition government, in which Burton was appointed as Minister for Social Protection.[10][11]

Labour Leadership: 2014–2016

Following a significant loss of seats at the 2014 2014 local elections and European Parliament election, Eamon Gilmore resigned as Labour Party leader. On 4 July 2014, Burton won the leadership election, defeating Alex White by 78% to 22%.[12] Upon her election she said that the Labour Party "would focus on social repair, and govern more with the heart".[12] She became the first woman to lead the Labour Party. Burton was appointed as Tánaiste, with Burton remaining as Minister for Social Protection. In a reshuffle of Labour ministers, Gilmore, Pat Rabbitte and Ruairi Quinn (three former party leaders) stood down, and Alex White, Jan O'Sullivan, and Alan Kelly were appointed to cabinet. During her term as leader and Tánaiste, her contribution was key to preventing the sell-off of State assets, protecting core welfare payments and increasing the minimum wage twice.[13]

A month before the 2016 general election, a Millward Browne poll projected she would lose her constituency seat; however, she retained her Dublin West seat.[14][15] The Labour Party fell to 7 seats, down from 37 at the previous election.

At a Women in Media conference that took place in April 2016, Burton discussed how women were excluded from the government negotiation process. She criticized what she called the misogyny and abuse female politicians faced during the election, as well as the "vulgar, crude, and demeaning" Late Late Show broadcast during the election that offered Freudian interpretations of politicians' body language.[16]

Burton remained as Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection until 6 May 2016 during prolonged talks on government formation.[17] On 10 May 2016, she announced her resignation as Labour Party leader, which took effect on 20 May 2016 when her replacement Brendan Howlin was elected unopposed.[18][19][20]

She lost her seat at the 2020 general election, with her first preference vote declining from 15.4% to 4.8%.[21][22]

References

  1. ↑ "Joan Burton". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 25 August 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  2. ↑ Burton, Joan (11 January 2021). "'I reached out to Bridie from my cot with my bandaged fingers, and it was love at first sight on both our parts' - Joan Burton reveals the three-decade search for her birth story and fight for change". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 23 August 2024. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  3. ↑ McNamara, Maedhbh (2020). A woman's place is in the Cabinet: Women ministers in Irish governments 1919–2019. Drogheda: Sea Dog Books. ISBN 978-1-913275-06-8.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Joan Burton". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 3 February 2009. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
  5. ↑ "Appointment of Members of Government and Ministers of State". Dáil Debates. 425 (7). 10 February 1993. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  6. ↑ "Resignation of Taoiseach and Ministerial Changes: Statement". Dáil Debates. 447 (4). 22 November 1994. Archived from the original on 15 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  7. ↑ "Appointment of Members of Government and Ministers of State". Dáil Debates. 447 (11). 25 January 1995. Archived from the original on 13 September 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  8. ↑ "Dublin West". RTÉ News. Archived from the original on 28 February 2011. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
  9. ↑ Slattery, Laura (26 February 2011). "Burton elected on first count". The Irish Times.
  10. ↑ "Appointment of Ministers and Ministers of State". Dáil Debates. 728 (2). Houses of the Oireachtas. 15 March 2011. Archived from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  11. ↑ "Kenny elected Taoiseach, appoints Gilmore Tánaiste". The Irish Times. 9 March 2011. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  12. 1 2 "Need to govern with more heart, says Joan Burton". RTÉ News. 4 July 2014. Archived from the original on 5 July 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  13. ↑ McNamara 2020.
  14. ↑ "Burton to lose her seat: poll". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 5 May 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  15. ↑ "Dublin West constituency". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  16. ↑ Mullally, Una (17 April 2016). "Burton: 'disproportionate maleness' in govt talks". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  17. ↑ McGrath, Meadhbh (6 May 2016). "Revealed: The salaries TDs pocketed over 10 weeks of government talks". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 10 May 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  18. ↑ Doyle, Kevin (10 May 2016). "'Regrets, I've had a few' – Joan Burton refuses to name a successor as she resigns as Labour Party leader". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 11 May 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  19. ↑ Bardon, Sarah (10 May 2016). "Joan Burton resigns as Labour leader". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 21 September 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  20. ↑ Bardon, Sarah (21 May 2016). "Brendan Howlin chosen to be new Labour leader". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  21. ↑ O'Halloran, Marie (10 February 2020). "Dublin West results: Joan Burton and Ruth Coppinger lose seats". Irish Times. Dublin. Retrieved 5 June 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  22. ↑ "Election 2020: Dublin West". Irish Times. Dublin. 10 February 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
Wikimedia Commons logo
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joan Burton.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.