Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

PROFILE MÁIRE GEOGHEGAN-QUINN:She’s been out of the limelight for a while, in a low-profile EU post, but the former Fianna Fáil TD who almost ran for Taoiseach is set to be Brian Cowen’s choice to be our next EU Commissioner, writes JAMIE SMYTH

Geoghegan-Quinn, known in Fianna Fáil circles as MGQ, was a powerful figure in Irish politics during the 1980s and 1990s, holding three senior cabinet posts during her 22-year tenure as a TD for Galway West. She is probably best remembered for her courageous and determined move to introduce legislation to decriminalise homosexuality in 1993. She stood down at the 1997 general election shortly after newspapers reported that one of her two sons had been expelled from school. “When politics demands – and wrongly demands – that a TD’s family members serve as expendable extensions of the elected members, I will not serve,” she said in her resignation statement.