New Minister steeped in politics at young age

THE first woman Minister for Agriculture has been involved in politics since she was 16, when she joined Ogra Fianna Fáil.

Her uncle and late father each served three years in national politics, and her uncle Clement was in local politics for more than 25 years.

Also active in the Kevin Barry Cumann group in University College Dublin, she was thrown into the deep end of national and local politics upon the death of father, Cathal. In 1987, aged 21, she was asked to run for his seat, when she had finished university and was going to work in Scotland.