Martin O'Donoghue

Martin O'Donoghue (born 13 May 1933) is a former Irish politician and economist.^[1] He also served as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) and holds the distinction of being one of only six TDs to be appointed Minister on their first day in the Dáil. He is a Fellow Emeritus of Trinity College, Dublin and serves with the O'Reilly Foundation.

Life

Martin O'Donoghue was born in Dublin. He was educated in Crumlin and worked as a waiter in Dublin, becoming a mature student at Trinity College, Dublin and later obtaining a PhD in economics from that university.

Career

From 1962 to 1964 and from 1967 to 1969 he was economic consultant at the Departments of Education and Finance respectively. Between 1970 and 1973 O'Donoghue was economic adviser to the Taoiseach, Jack Lynch.

Politics

At the 1977 general election O'Donoghue was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil TD for the Dún Laoghaire constituency.^[2] He was chief author of the election manifesto which saw Fianna Fáil achieve an unprecedented twenty-seat majority. O'Donoghue was immediately appointed Minister for Economic Planning and Development. In 1979, Charles Haughey became Taoiseach and O'Donoghue's ministerial position was abolished. In 1982 O'Donoghue was returned to Cabinet as Minister for Education. He resigned from the government in October 1982, when he refused to support Haughey in a leadership challenge, and in November 1982 lost his Dáil seat at the general election.

O'Donoghue entered Seanad Éireann after losing his Dáil seat. He remained in the Seanad until 1987. Later he left Fianna Fáil, becoming a supporter of the Progressive Democrats.

Later career

In 1998 O'Donoghue became a director of the Central Bank of Ireland, serving with this and its successor body until the end of April 2008.

He is currently a Fellow Emeritus of Trinity College Dublin, having retired from his position as a Lecturer and Associate Professor of Economics there. He is also a member of the Scholarship Board of the O'Reilly Foundation.

References

External links

• The O'Reilly Foundation - Scholarship Board, and short profiles