Minister of State at the Department of Social Protection

The Minister of State at the Department of Social Protection is a junior ministerial post in the Department of Social Protection of the Government of Ireland who may perform functions delegated by the Minister for Social Protection. A Minister of State does not hold cabinet rank.

List of parliamentary secretaries

Name	Term of office		Party		Government
Michael Kennedy	19 June 1951	2 June 1954		Fianna Fáil	6th [1]
	21 March 1957	11 November 1961			8th [2]  • 9th [3]
Johnny Geoghegan	9 July 1969	14 March 1973		Fianna Fáil	13th [4]
Frank Cluskey	14 March 1973	5 July 1977		Labour	14th [5]

List of ministers of state

Name	Term of office		Party		Responsibilities	Government
Tom Nolan	25 March 1980	17 December 1980		Fianna Fáil		16th [6] [7]
Thomas Hussey	17 December 1980	30 June 1981		Fianna Fáil
Mary Flaherty	30 June 1981	9 March 1982		Fine Gael	Poverty and the Family	17th [8]
Denis Gallagher	23 March 1982	27 October 1982		Fianna Fáil	Social Welfare Claims	18th [9] [10]
Rory O'Hanlon	28 October 1982	14 December 1982		Fianna Fáil	Social Welfare Claims
Fergus O'Brien	16 December 1982	15 December 1983		Fine Gael	Social Welfare Information	19th [11] [12]
John Donnellan	15 December 1983	10 March 1987		Fine Gael	Social Welfare Information
Séamus Pattison	15 December 1983	20 January 1987		Labour	Social Welfare Administration
Joan Burton	14 January 1993	15 December 1994		Labour	EC Poverty Plans and Tax and Social Welfare Codes [13]	23rd [14]
Bernard Durkan	20 December 1994	26 June 1997		Fine Gael		24th [15]
Name	Term of office		Party		Responsibilities	Government
Máire Hoctor	9 July 2007	7 May 2008		Fianna Fáil	Older People	27th [16]
	13 May 2008	22 April 2009				28th [17] [18]
Áine Brady	22 April 2009	9 March 2011		Fianna Fáil	Older People and Health Promotion
Name	Term of office		Party		Responsibilities	Government
Kevin Humphreys	15 July 2014	6 May 2016		Labour	Employment, Community and Social Support [19] [20] [21]	29th [22]
Finian McGrath	6 May 2016	14 June 2017		Independent	Disability Issues [23]	30th [24]
Name	Term of office		Party		Responsibilities	Government
Finian McGrath	20 June 2017	27 June 2020		Independent	Disability Issues [25]	31st [26]
Pat Breen	20 June 2017	27 June 2020		Fine Gael	Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection
Name	Term of office		Party		Responsibilities	Government
Damien English	19 July 2020	12 January 2023		Fine Gael	Employment Affairs and Retail Business	32nd  • 33rd [27] [28]
Neale Richmond	13 January 2023	10 April 2024		Fine Gael	Employment Affairs and Retail Business
Joe O'Brien	19 July 2020	23 January 2025		Green	Community Development and Charities	32nd  • 33rd  • 34th
Emer Higgins	10 April 2024	23 January 2025		Fine Gael	Business, Employment and Retail	34th

References

1. "Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries – Dáil Éireann (14th Dáil) – Wednesday, 20 June 1951". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 22 February 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
2. "Airi agus Rúnaithe Parlaiminte – Dáil Éireann (16th Dáil) – Tuesday, 26 March 1957". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 16 September 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
3. "Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries: Announcement by Taoiseach – Dáil Éireann (16th Dáil) – Tuesday, 30 June 1959". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 16 September 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
4. "Appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries – Dáil Éireann (19th Dáil)". Houses of the Oireachtas . 9 July 1969. Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
5. "Appointment of Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries – Dáil Éireann (20th Dáil) – Wednesday, 14 March 1973". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 6 January 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
6. "Appointment of Ministers of State – Dáil Éireann (21st Dáil) – Thursday, 27 March 1980". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 8 January 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
7. "Appointment of Ministers – Dáil Éireann (21st Dáil) – Wednesday, 17 December 1980". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 8 January 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
8. "Appointment of Ministers and Ministers of State – Dáil Éireann (22nd Dáil) – Tuesday, 7 July 1981". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
9. "Appointment of Ministers and Minister of State – Dáil Éireann (23rd Dáil) – Tuesday, 23 March 1982". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
10. "Nomination of Members of Government: Motion – Dáil Éireann (23rd Dáil) – Wednesday, 27 October 1982". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 8 January 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
11. "Appointment of Ministers of State – Dáil Éireann (24th Dáil) – Thursday, 16 December 1982". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 5 November 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
12. "Ministerial Appointments and Titles – Dáil Éireann (24th Dáil) – Friday, 16 December 1983". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 7 January 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
13. "Social Welfare (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order 1993". Irish Statute Book. 9 February 1993. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
14. "Appointment of Members of Government and Ministers of State – Dáil Éireann (27th Dáil) – Wednesday, 10 February 1993". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
15. "Appointment of Members of Government and Ministers of State – Dáil Éireann (27th Dáil) – Tuesday, 25 January 1995". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 13 September 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
16. "Appointment of Members of Government and Ministers of State – Dáil Éireann (30th Dáil) – Tuesday, 26 June 2007". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
17. "Appointment of Ministers of State – Dáil Éireann (30th Dáil) – Tuesday, 13 May 2008". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
18. "Appointment of Ministers of State – Dáil Éireann (30th Dáil) – Wednesday, 22 April 2009". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
19. "Social Protection (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order 2014". Irish Statute Book. 23 September 2014. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
20. "Social Protection (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order 2015". Irish Statute Book. 30 June 2015. Archived from the original on 22 January 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
21. "Social Protection (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) (No. 2) Order 2015". Irish Statute Book. 1 December 2015. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
22. "Appointment of Ministers of State – Dáil Éireann (31st Dáil) – Tuesday, 15 July 2014". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
23. "Social Protection (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order 2016". Irish Statute Book. 21 June 2016. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
24. "Appointment of Ministers of State – Dáil Éireann (32nd Dáil) – Thursday, 19 May 2016". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 24 December 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
25. "Social Protection (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order 2017". Irish Statute Book. 18 July 2017. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
26. "Appointment of Members of Government and Ministers of State – Dáil Éireann (32nd Dáil) – Tuesday, 20 June 2017". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 23 December 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
27. "Minister of State appointments". gov.ie. Department of the Taoiseach. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
28. "Neale Richmond to replace English as junior minister". RTÉ News . 13 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2023.