Minister for Education and Science (Ireland)
From Includipedia, the inclusionist encyclopedia
The Minister for Education and Science (Template:Lang-ga) is the senior minister at the Department of Education and Science in the Irish Government.
The current Minister for Education and Science is Mary Hanafin, TD. She is assisted by:
- Brendan Smith, TD – Minister of State (with special responsibility for Children).
- Seán Haughey, TD – Minister of State with special responsibility for Lifelong Learning, Youth Work and School Transport.
- Jimmy Devins, TD – Minister of State with special responsibility for Disability Issues and Mental Health.
- Conor Lenihan, TD – Minister of State with special responsibility for Integration Policy.
- Michael Ahern, TD – Minister of State with special responsibility for Innovation Policy.
- Pat "the Cope" Gallagher, TD – Minister of State with special responsibility for Health Promotion and Food Safety.
Until September 1997 the department was known simply as the "Department of Education".
Contents |
Overview
The Minister engages in a wide range of activities relating to education in the Republic of Ireland, including policy planning, quality assurance and the provision of a broad range of services.
The department officially aims to:
- Promote equity and inclusion
- Promote lifelong learning
- Plan for education that is relevant to personal, social, cultural and economic needs.
In recent years some of these functions have been devolved to statutory authorities, in particular the Higher Education Authority, the National Qualifications Authority and the State Examinations Commission. Irish universities and colleges are to a large extent free of government control, with this being largely limited to policy formation and statistics preparation.
List of office-holders
Minister for Education 1921–1997
Minister for Education & Science 1997–present
| # | Name | Entered Office | Left Office | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor=Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color| | Micheál Martin | September 30, 1997 | January 27, 2000 | Fianna Fáil | |
| bgcolor=Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color| | 32. | Michael Woods | January 27, 2000 | June 6, 2002 | Fianna Fáil |
| bgcolor=Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color| | 33. | Noel Dempsey | June 6, 2002 | September 29, 2004 | Fianna Fáil |
| bgcolor=Template:Fianna Fáil/meta/color| | 34. | Mary Hanafin | September 29, 2004 | Incumbent | Fianna Fáil |
Footnotes
- ^ John J. O'Kelly bore the title of Secretary for Education.
- ↑ a b The terms of office of Michael Hayes and Finian Lynch overlap. This is because they were ministers under two different but overlapping political systems. Michael Hayes was a member of the Ministry of the Irish Republic, while Finian Lynch was a minister of the Provisional Government. For a period in 1922 an anomalous situation existed in which these two administrations overlapped.
See also
External links
| Government of Ireland Rialtas na hÉireann |
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