The Minister for Education and Science is the senior minister at the Department of Education and Science (An Roinn Oideachais agus Eolaíochta) in the Irish Government.

The current Minister for Education and Science is Mary Hanafin, TD. She is assisted by:

• Síle de Valera, TD - Minister of State with special responsibility for Adult Education, Youth Affairs and Educational Disadvantage;
• Brian Lenihan, Jr, TD - Minister of State with special responsibility for Children.

Until September 1997 the department was known simply as the "Department for Education".

Contents

1 Overview 2 List of office-holders 2.1 Minister for Education (1921-1997) 2.2 Minister for Education & Science (1997-present) 3 Footnotes 4 See also 5 External link

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 prepairation.

List of office-holders

Minister for Education (1921-1997)

#	Name	Took office	Left office	Party
1.	John J. O'Kelly 1	August 26, 1921	January 9, 1922	Sinn Féin
2.	Michael Hayes2	January 11, 1922	September 9, 1922	Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin
3.	Finian Lynch2	April 1, 1922	August 30, 1922	Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin
4.	Eoin MacNeill	August 30, 1922	November 24, 1925	Cumann na nGaedhael
5.	John M. O'Sullivan	January 28, 1926	March 9, 1932	Cumann na nGaedhael
6.	Tomás Ó Deirg (1st time)	March 9, 1932	September 8, 1939	Fianna Fáil
7.	Seán T. O'Kelly	September 8, 1939	September 27, 1939	Fianna Fáil
8.	Eamon de Valera (acting)	September 27, 1939	June 18, 1940	Fianna Fáil
	Tomás Ó Deirg (2nd time)	June 18, 1940	February 18, 1948	Fianna Fáil
9.	Richard Mulcahy (1st time)	February 18, 1948	June 13, 1951	Fine Gael
10.	Seán Moylon	June 13, 1951	June 2, 1954	Fianna Fáil
	Richard Mulcahy (2nd time)	June 2, 1954	March 20, 1957	Fine Gael
11.	Jack Lynch (1st time)	March 20, 1957	June 23, 1959	Fianna Fáil
12.	Patrick Hillery	June 23, 1959	April 21, 1965	Fianna Fáil
13.	George Colley	April 21, 1965	July 13, 1966	Fianna Fáil
14.	Donagh O'Malley	July 13, 1966	March 10, 1968	Fianna Fáil
15.	Jack Lynch (acting)	March 10, 1968	March 26, 1968	Fianna Fáil
16.	Brian Lenihan	March 26, 1968	July 2, 1969	Fianna Fáil
17.	Pádraig Faulkner	July 2, 1969	March 14, 1973	Fianna Fáil
18.	Richard Burke	March 14, 1973	December 2, 1976	Fine Gael
19.	Peter Barry	December 2, 1976	July 5, 1977	Fine Gael
20.	John Wilson	July 5, 1977	June 30, 1981	Fianna Fáil
21.	John Boland	June 30, 1981	March 9, 1982	Fine Gael
22.	Martin O'Donoghue	March 9, 1982	October 6, 1982	Fianna Fáil
23.	Charles Haughey (acting)	October 7, 1982	October 27, 1982	Fianna Fáil
24.	Gerard Brady	October 27, 1982	December 14, 1982	Fianna Fáil
25.	Gemma Hussey	December 14, 1982	February 14, 1986	Fine Gael
26.	Patrick Cooney	February 14, 1986	March 10, 1987	Fine Gael
27.	Mary O'Rourke	March 10, 1987	November 14, 1991	Fianna Fáil
28.	Noel Davern	November 14, 1991	February 11, 1992	Fianna Fáil
29.	Séamus Brennan	February 11, 1992	January 12, 1993	Fianna Fáil
30.	Niamh Bhreathnach (1st time)	January 12, 1993	November 17, 1994	Labour
31.	Michael Smith	November 18, 1994	December 15, 1994	Fianna Fáil
	Niamh Bhreathnach (2nd time)	December 15, 1994	June 26, 1997	Labour
32.	Micheál Martin	June 26, 1997	September 30, 1997	Fianna Fáil

Minister for Education & Science (1997-present)

#	Name	Took office	Left office	Party
	Micheál Martin	September 30, 1997	January 27, 2000	Fianna Fáil
33.	Michael Woods	January 27, 2000	June 6, 2002	Fianna Fáil
34.	Noel Dempsey	June 6, 2002	September 29, 2004	Fianna Fáil
35.	Mary Hanafin	September 29, 2004	(Current office-holder)	Fianna Fáil

Footnotes

1. John J. O'Kelly bore the title of Secretary for Education.
2. 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

• Irish cabinets since 1919

External link

• Department of Education and Science