Josepha Madigan

Josepha Madigan (/dʒoʊˈsiːfə ˈmædɪɡən/, born 21 May 1970) is an Irish Fine Gael politician serving as Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion since July 2020. She served as Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht from November 2017 to June 2020. She has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Rathdown constituency since 2016. She previously served as Chair of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight from July 2017 to November 2017.

Madigan was born in Dublin in 1969. She attended Mount Anville Secondary School and Trinity College Dublin. She is married to Finbarr Hayes, and they have two children. Her father, Patrick Madigan, was a Fianna Fáil County Councillor in Dublin, her mother, Patricia Madigan, was a barrister who had a background in Fine Gael. She and her family live in Mount Merrion.

Solicitor

Madigan is a qualified solicitor, who practised in family law for twenty years, prior to her election to Dáil Éireann. She is also certified as a mediator by the Mediators’ Institute of Ireland and is a previous Council member of the MII. She is a former Specialist Liaison Officer for Family Mediation in the MII.

Author

Madigan is the author of the first book in Ireland on mediation: "Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Ireland, a handbook for family lawyers and their clients" (Jordan Publishing, 2012). She has also self-published a novel called Negligent Behaviour.

Politics

Madigan was elected to Dáil Éireann following the 2016 general election as a Fine Gael TD for the Dublin Rathdown constituency, beating sitting Fine Gael TD Alan Shatter by nearly 1,000 votes.

She was re-elected in February 2020, taking the third seat behind Catherine Martin and party colleague Neale Richmond.

She was appointed Chair of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight in July 2017. She had been a member of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council from 2014 to 2016.

Madigan issued a leaflet in 2014 claimed that providing accommodation for Travellers in her constituency would be "a waste of valuable resources". When asked about this later, Madigan claimed "Some people won't want to live beside people in halting sites [...] there might be more crime, that there might be anti-social behaviour".

Madigan was three weeks a TD, when she was asked to participate in the 2016 government formation talks. She is an active member of the Public Accounts Committee. She also successfully brought forward a private member's bill to reduce the waiting time for divorce in Ireland from four years to two.

On 30 November 2017, Madigan was appointed to the cabinet as Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, in a reshuffle following the resignation of the Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald.

On 29 March 2018, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar appointed Madigan as the coordinator for the Fine Gael Yes campaign in the referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment.

In 2019, Madigan received widespread coverage for her role in the personal injury legal claim of Fine Gael politician, Maria Bailey. It was alleged that Madigan'slaw practice, Madigan Solicitors, advised Bailey on her claim, however, Madigan refused to make any comments on this citing client-solicitor confidentiality. In July 2019, an internal unpublished Fine Gael probe into the affair cleared Madigan of any wrongdoing in regard to the claim. In late July 2019, the Irish Independent reported that "it is now known that she advised Ms Bailey in the early stages of the claim". It was also reported that Madigan's firm would earn Euro 11,500 in fees if the Maria Baily case had been successful.