Minister for Labour

The Minister for Labour was originally the name of a government department in the Government of the Irish Republic, the self-declared state which was established in 1919 by Dáil Éireann, the parliamentary assembly made up of the majority of Irish MPs elected in the 1918 general election. Constance Markievicz was the first person to hold the post. The office was abolished in 1922.

The modern title of Minister for Labour was created by the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 1966 as a member of the Government of Ireland. The position was for many years a low key ministerial position. In 1993 the minister became the Minister for Equality and Law Reform, in 1997 the functions of the minister were passed to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on the abolition of the office.

List of office-holders

Minister for Labour 1919–1922
No.	Name	Entered Office	Left Office	Party
1.	Constance Markievicz	2 April 1919	9 January 1922		Sinn Féin
2.	Joseph McGrath	11 January 1922	9 September 1922		Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin
3.	Patrick Hogan (acting)	17 July 1922	9 September 1922		Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin
Minister for Labour 1966–1993
No.	Name	Entered Office	Left Office	Party
1.	Patrick Hillery	13 July 1966	2 July 1969		Fianna Fáil
2.	Joseph Brennan	2 July 1969	14 March 1973		Fianna Fáil
3.	Michael O'Leary	14 March 1973	5 July 1977		Labour Party
4.	*Gene Fitzgerald (1st time)	5 July 1977	16 December 1980		Fianna Fáil
5.	Tom Nolan	16 December 1980	30 June 1981		Fianna Fáil
6.	*Liam Kavanagh (1st time)	30 June 1981	9 March 1982		Labour Party
	*Gene Fitzgerald (2nd time)	9 March 1982	14 December 1982		Fianna Fáil
	*Liam Kavanagh (2nd time)	14 December 1982	13 December 1983		Labour Party
7.	*Ruairi Quinn	13 December 1983	20 January 1987		Labour Party
8.	Gemma Hussey	20 January 1987	10 March 1987		Fine Gael
9.	Bertie Ahern	10 March 1987	14 November 1991		Fianna Fáil
10.	Michael O'Kennedy	14 November 1991	11 February 1992		Fianna Fáil
11.	Brian Cowen	11 February 1992	12 January 1993		Fianna Fáil
12.	Mervyn Taylor	12 January 1993	21 January 1993		Labour Party
Minister for Equality and Law Reform 1993–1997
No.	Name	Entered Office	Left Office	Party
1.	Mervyn Taylor (1st time)	21 January 1993	17 November 1994		Labour Party
2.	Máire Geoghegan-Quinn	18 November 1994	15 December 1994		Fianna Fáil
	Mervyn Taylor (2nd time)	15 December 1994	26 June 1997		Labour Party
3.	John O'Donoghue	26 June 1997	8 July 1997		Fianna Fáil

The asterisk (*) indicates ministers who held both the Labour and Public Service portfolios at the same time.