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Eamon Gilmore

Eamon Gilmore
Eamon Gilmore Conference 2010 cropped.jpg
European Union Special Envoy for the Colombian Peace Process
Assumed office
1 October 2015
President Jean-Claude Juncker
Preceded by Position established
Tánaiste
In office
9 March 2011 – 4 July 2014
Taoiseach Enda Kenny
Preceded by Mary Coughlan
Succeeded by Joan Burton
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade
In office
9 March 2011 – 11 July 2014
Taoiseach Enda Kenny
Preceded by Brian Cowen (Foreign Affairs)
Mary Hanafin (Enterprise, Trade and Innovation)
Succeeded by Charles Flanagan
Leader of the Labour Party
In office
6 September 2007 – 4 July 2014
Deputy Joan Burton
Preceded by Pat Rabbitte
Succeeded by Joan Burton
Minister of State at the Department of the Marine
In office
20 December 1994 – 26 June 1997
Taoiseach John Bruton
Preceded by Gerry O'Sullivan
Succeeded by Hugh Byrne
Teachta Dála
In office
June 1989 – February 2016
Constituency Dún Laoghaire
Personal details
Born (1955-04-24) 24 April 1955 (age 61)
Caltra, Galway, Ireland
Nationality Irish
Political party Labour Party (1999–present)
Other political
affiliations
Democratic Left (1992–99)
Workers' Party (1975–92)
Spouse(s) Carol Hanney
Children 3
Alma mater University College Galway
Website Official website

Eamon Gilmore (born 24 April 1955) is an Irish Labour Party politician. In the Government of Ireland, he held the offices of Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade from March 2011 until July 2014. Previously, he served as a Minister of State at the Department of the Marine from 1994 until 1997, during the 24th Government of Ireland. He was the Leader of the Labour Party from September 2007 to July 2014. He has represented the constituency of Dún Laoghaire in Dáil Éireann since 1989, firstly as a member of the Workers' Party of Ireland, later as a member of Democratic Left, then as a member of the Labour Party.

At the 2011 general election he led the Labour Party to its best electoral performance, with a record 37 Dáil seats. Labour entered government in coalition with Fine Gael, with Gilmore being appointed Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade.

As Minister for Foreign Affairs he led Ireland's seventh Presidency of the European Council during the first half of 2013, and took on the role of chief negotiator for the Council in talks with the European Parliament on a €960 billion EU budget for the period 2014–2020. Throughout 2012, he held the role of Chairperson-In-Office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Born in County Galway, Gilmore graduated from University College Galway, becoming President of the Union of Students in Ireland. Later, he entered local politics as a trade union organiser. As a Democratic Left TD, he helped to negotiate that party's merger with Labour. He was beaten by his colleague Pat Rabbitte in Labour's 2002 leadership election, following which he was appointed as the party's Environment, Housing and Local Government spokesperson. Gilmore was elected unopposed as Labour Party leader in 2007; he resigned the post in July 2014, and was succeeded by Joan Burton.


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