A mould breaker with a lifetime’s service to state

MARY HARNEY has spent a lifetime in the service of the state, as a councillor, a senator, a TD, a minister and, of course, as tánaiste — breaking the mould by becoming the first woman to hold that position.

She began her political career when appointed to the Seanad by the then-taoiseach Jack Lynch in 1977, and quickly established herself as a brave and principled politician.

This was best demonstrated when she stood up to Jack Lynch’s successor as Fianna Fáil leader, Charles Haughey, in the mid-1980s.