irish minister for social and family affairs

The Minister for Social and Family Affairs is the senior minister at the Department of Social and Family Affairs (An Roinn Gnotha Sisialacha agus Teaghlaigh) in the Irish Government. The current Minister is Samus Brennan, TD.

Overview

The Department was formed in 1947 as the Department of Social Welfare. Its present title dates from 6 June 2002. The Department formulates appropriate social protection policies and administers and manages the delivery of statutory and non-statutory schemes and services. It is also responsible for the delivery of a range of social insurance and social assistance schemes including provision for unemployment, illness, maternity, caring, widowhood, retirement and old age. Payments are made to nearly 950,000 people each week with over 1.5 million people directly benefiting from those payments. The budget spend in 2002 was €9.52 billion.

Minister for Social Welfare 1947-1997

#	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party
1.	James Ryan (1st time)*	January 22, 1947	February 18, 1948	Fianna Fil
2.	William Norton	February 18, 1948	June 13, 1951	Labour
	James Ryan (2nd time)*	June 13, 1951	June 2, 1954	Fianna Fil
3.	Brendan Corish (1st time)	June 2, 1954	March 20, 1957	Labour
4.	Patrick Smith	March 20, 1957	November 27, 1957	Fianna Fil
5.	*Sen MacEntee	November 27, 1957	October 11, 1961	Fianna Fil
6.	Kevin Boland (1st Time)	October 11, 1961	November 10, 1966	Fianna Fil
7.	Joseph Brennan (1st time)	November 10, 1966	July 2, 1969	Fianna Fil
	Kevin Boland (2nd time)	July 2, 1969	May 7, 1970	Fianna Fil
8.	Joseph Brennan (1st time)	May 9, 1970	March 14, 1973	Fianna Fil
	Brendan Corish (2nd time)*	March 14, 1973	July 5, 1977	Labour
9.	*Charles Haughey	July 5, 1977	December 11, 1979	Fianna Fil
10.	Michael Woods (1st time)*	December 12, 1979	June 30, 1981	Fianna Fil
11.	*Eileen Desmond	June 30, 1981	March 9, 1982	Labour
	Michael Woods (2nd time)*	March 9, 1982	December 14, 1982	Fianna Fil
12.	*Barry Desmond	December 14, 1982	February 14, 1986	Labour
13.	Gemma Hussey	February 14, 1986	March 10, 1987	Fine Gael
	Michael Woods (3rd time)	March 10, 1987	November 14, 1991	Fianna Fil
13.	Brendan Daly	November 14, 1991	February 11, 1992	Fianna Fil
14.	Charlie McCreevy	February 11, 1992	January 12, 1993	Fianna Fil
	Michael Woods (4th time)*	January 12, 1993	December 15, 1994	Fianna Fil
15.	Proinsias De Rossa	December 15, 1994	June 26, 1997	Democratic Left
16.	Dermot Ahern	June 26, 1997	July 12, 1997	Fianna Fil