Eithne FitzGerald

Eithne FitzGerald (born 28 November 1950) is an Irish economist and former Labour Party politician who served as Minister of State at the Office of the Tánaiste from 1994 to 1997, Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise and Employment from 1994 to 1997 and Minister of State at the Department of Finance from 1993 to 1994. She served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South constituency from 1992 to 1997.

She stood unsuccessfully four times for Dáil Éireann at various general elections, in the Dublin South constituency, before being elected a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin South at the 1992 general election.^[1] On that occasion, she not only topped the poll but received more first preference votes than any other candidate in the country. Labour entered into a coalition government with Fianna Fáil, and FitzGerald was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Finance in January 1993.

When the Labour Party withdrew from that coalition in 1994, a new "Rainbow coalition" was formed between Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Democratic Left. She was transferred to the post of Minister of State at the office of the Tánaiste and Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise and Employment, where she served until the coalition government was defeated at the 1997 general election.

FitzGerald lost her seat at that election,^[2] being replaced by Fine Gael's Olivia Mitchell. She stood again in Dublin South at the 2002 general election, but was not elected.

She is married to John D. FitzGerald, the son of Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald.

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