Noël Browne | |
---|---|
Minister for Health | |
In office 1948–1951 |
|
Taoiseach | John A. Costello |
Preceded by | James Ryan |
Succeeded by | John A. Costello |
Teachta Dála | |
In office 1948–1954 |
|
Constituency | Dublin South-East |
In office 1957–1965 |
|
Constituency | Dublin South-East |
In office 1969–1973 |
|
Constituency | Dublin South-East |
In office 1977–1981 |
|
Constituency | Dublin Artane |
In office 1981–1982 |
|
Constituency | Dublin North-Central |
Personal details | |
Born |
Waterford, Ireland |
20 December 1915
Died | 21 May 1997 Baile na hAbhann, County Galway, Ireland |
(aged 81)
Political party |
Clann na Poblachta (resigned) Fianna Fáil (expelled) National Progressive Democrats (party dissolved) Labour Party (resigned) Socialist Labour Party |
Spouse(s) | Phyllis Browne |
Noël Christopher Browne (20 December 1915 – 21 May 1997) was an Irish politician and doctor. He holds the distinction of being one of only six TDs to be appointed Minister at the start of their first term in the Dáil. His controversial Mother and Child Scheme in effect brought down the First Inter-Party Government of John A. Costello in 1951.
Browne was a well-known but at times highly controversial public representative, and managed to be a TD for five different political parties (two of which he co-founded). These were Clann na Poblachta (resigned), Fianna Fáil (expelled), National Progressive Democrats (co-founder), Labour Party (resigned) and the Socialist Labour Party (co-founder).
Noël Browne was born in Waterford and grew up in Derry, Athlone and Ballinrobe. His mother Mary Therese Cooney was born in 1885 in Hollymount, County Mayo; a plaque has been erected there in her memory. His father worked as an inspector for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and, partly as a result of this work, all of the Browne family became infected with tuberculosis. Both parents died of the disease during the 1920s, and several of Browne's siblings also succumbed. In 1929 he was admitted free of charge to St. Anthony's, a preparatory school in Eastbourne, England. He then won a scholarship to Beaumont College, the Jesuit public school near Old Windsor, Berkshire, where he befriended Neville Chance, a wealthy boy from Dublin. Neville's father, the eminent surgeon Arthur Chance (son of surgeon, Sir Arthur Chance), subsequently paid Browne's way through medical school at Trinity College, Dublin.