Síle de Valera has announced that she is to resign as Minister of State because she will not be standing for re-election next year.
Sile de Valera
Ms de Valera has served as Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, and as Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science over the last nine years.
She said her decision to resign on December 8th "follows on from my suggestion to the Taoiseach in November 2005 that I should resign as Minister of State as I would not be running for re-election in 2007".
In her resignation letter to the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, Ms de Valera "thanked him for giving me the honour of serving as Minister" and "assured him of my continuing support in the run up to and during the forthcoming election".
She said she "looked forward to celebrating his return to Government for a third consecutive term in office, in June".
The Clare TD served as Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht in the Fianna Fáil/PD government of 1997-2002. However, she was not appointed to a full ministry in Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's current Government following the 2002 general election.
Ms de Valera also served as a Member of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1984.