Eileen Lemass

She became involved in politics in 1974 when she was first elected to Dublin City Council. In 1976 she unsuccessfully contested the by-election in Dublin South-West caused by the death of her 47-year-old husband Noel Lemass, son of former Taoiseach Seán Lemass and brother-in-law of future Taoiseach Charles Haughey.

She was first elected to Dáil Éireann for Dublin Ballyfermot at the 1977 general election.^[4] Lemass was elected again at the 1981 general election, this time for Dublin West, but lost her Dáil seat in February 1982.

She was an unsuccessful candidate at the May 1982 Dublin West by-election, but won re-election in that year's second general election in November 1982. Two years later in 1984, she was elected to the European Parliament for the Dublin constituency.^[2] She served as the chair of the Committee on Youth, Culture, Education, Information and Sport between 1987 and 1989.^[2]

In 1982, Lemass opposed pressure that the European Economic Community was placing on Ireland, Greece, and Belgium to legalise abortion. Speaking to the Irish Times, Lemass said, “It is lucky that Ireland has adopted the constitutional amendment to protect the life of the unborn. These moves bear out the claims of pro-amendment people that pressure to allow abortions in Ireland is coming from the European parliament.”^[5]

She retired from domestic politics at the 1987 election and from European politics in 1989 when she lost her European seat.^[4]

• Personal profile of Eileen Lemass in the European Parliament's database of members