Ready to take on every challenge but finally succumbed to ill health service

FROM youngest ever senator to first female Tánaiste, Mary Harney has continually smashed through any glass ceiling threatening to contain her towering ambition.

The Tánaiste’s departure from centre stage must also set some kind of record as she even managed to keep that rarest of things in politics — a secret.

Though struggling to master the task she set herself of turning the health service around, Ms Harney’s grip on the PD rein’s of power appeared tighter than ever after slapping down a clumsy leadership putsch by Justice Minister Michael McDowell in the early summer.