Joan Burton (born 1 February 1949) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as Tánaiste and leader of the Labour Party from 2014 to 2016. She served as a TD for Dublin West from 1992 to 1997 and from 2002 to 2020.
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Early life
Burton is a native of Stoneybatter, Dublin. She was adopted by the Burton family as a baby and was brought up in Inchicore. Her father worked in the local iron foundry. She was educated at St. Gabriel's National School, Cowper Street St. Joseph Sisters of Charity Secondary School, Stanhope Street and University College Dublin, where she graduated with a degree in commerce. She is also a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. She has worked as a lecturer in accountancy at the Dublin Institute of Technology and the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Political career
Early years: 1989–1997
Burton first stood for election at the 1989 general election, as one of two Labour Party candidates in Dublin Central. At the 1991 Dublin County Council election in Fingal, she was elected for the Mulhuddart local electoral area.
Burton was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1992 general election as a Labour Party TD for Dublin West in the 27th Dáil. She was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Social Welfare with responsibility for poverty in the Fianna Fáil–Labour Party coalition that was formed in January 1993. Labour left the coalition in November 1994. In December 1994, a Rainbow Coalition of Fine Gael–Labour–Democratic Left was formed, and Burton was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs. She held this position until the coalition stood down after the 1997 general election.
Loss of seat and re-election: 1997–2007
She lost her seat at the 1997 general election to Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party. Burton was elected at the 1999 Fingal County Council election for the Castleknock local electoral area. She was re-elected to the Dáil for Dublin West at the 2002 general election. She was appointed Labour Party Spokesperson for Finance. She was a candidate for the deputy leadership of the party in 2002, obtaining 24% of the first preference vote. From 1997 to 2002, she had returned to lecturing.
Labour Deputy leadership: 2007–2014
Burton became deputy leader of the Labour Party in September 2007. She was re-elected for Dublin West at the 2011 general election, topping the poll with 9,627 votes, and was the first TD in the country to be elected to the 31st Dáil. Fine Gael and Labour formed a coalition government, in which Burton was appointed as Minister for Social Protection.
Labour Leadership: 2014–2016
Following a significant loss of seats at the 2014 2014 local elections and European Parliament election, Eamon Gilmore resigned as Labour Party leader. On 4 July 2014, Burton won the leadership election, defeating Alex White by 78% to 22%. Upon her election she said that the Labour Party "would focus on social repair, and govern more with the heart". She became the first woman to lead the Labour Party. Burton was appointed as Tánaiste, with Burton remaining as Minister for Social Protection. In a reshuffle of Labour ministers, Gilmore, Pat Rabbitte and Ruairi Quinn (three former party leaders) stood down, and Alex White, Jan O'Sullivan, and Alan Kelly were appointed to cabinet. During her term as leader and Tánaiste, her contribution was key to preventing the sell-off of State assets, protecting core welfare payments and increasing the minimum wage twice.
A month before the 2016 general election, a Millward Browne poll projected she would lose her constituency seat; however, she retained her Dublin West seat. The Labour Party fell to 7 seats, down from 37 at the previous election.
At a Women in Media conference that took place in April 2016, Burton discussed how women were excluded from the government negotiation process. She criticized what she called the misogyny and abuse female politicians faced during the election, as well as the "vulgar, crude, and demeaning" Late Late Show broadcast during the election that offered Freudian interpretations of politicians' body language.
Burton remained as Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection until 6 May 2016 during prolonged talks on government formation. On 10 May 2016, she announced her resignation as Labour Party leader, which took effect on 20 May 2016 when her replacement Brendan Howlin was elected unopposed.
She lost her seat at the 2020 general election, with her first preference vote declining from 15.4% to 4.8%.