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Róisín Shortall
Róisín Shortall
	Shortall in 2022
Leader of the Social Democrats; with Catherine Murphy
	In office; 15 July 2015 – 1 March 2023
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	Holly Cairns
Minister of State
2011–2012	Health
Teachta Dála
	In office; November 1992 – November 2024
Constituency	Dublin North-West
Personal details
Born	25 April 1954 (age 70); Drumcondra, Dublin, Ireland
Political party	Social Democrats
Other political; affiliations	Independent (2012–2015); Labour Party (1988–2012);
Spouse	Seamus O'Byrne (m. 1989)
Children	3
Alma mater	University College Dublin; Marino Institute of Education, Dublin;
Website	roisinshortall.ie

Róisín Shortall (born 25 April 1954) is an Irish former Social Democrats politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North-West constituency from 1992 to 2024. She was previously founding joint leader of the Social Democrats from 2015 to 2023 and served as Minister of State for Primary Care from 2011 to 2012.^[1]

A member of the Labour Party until 2012, she sat as an Independent from 2012 to 2015, until she co-founded the Social Democrats in July 2015.

In August 2022, she became the longest serving female TD in the history of the State, overtaking Mary Harney.

Early life

Shortall was born and raised in Drumcondra, Dublin. Her father was a Fianna Fáil Dublin City Councillor who had fought in the Irish Civil War.^[2] She was educated at Dominican College, Eccles Street; University College Dublin, and Marino Institute of Education, Marino. She has a B.A. in Economics and Politics.^[3] She worked as a teacher for the deaf before seeking public office.

Political career

In 1988, she joined the Labour Party and was first elected at the 1991 Dublin Corporation election for the local electoral area of Drumcondra.

Shortall was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1992 general election, when the Labour Party won a record 33 seats as part of the "Spring Tide", a surge credited to the popularity of Labour leader Dick Spring. She retained her seat at each of the following four general elections.^[4] She is a former party spokesperson for Social and Family Affairs.

In 1999, she opposed the merger of the Democratic Left into the Labour Party. Following a poor showing by Labour in the 2002 general election, she was openly critical of the leadership of Ruairi Quinn. Following Quinn's resignation from the leadership months later, she contested the leadership position, but lost out to former Democratic Left member Eamon Gilmore.^[2]

On 10 March 2011, she was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Health with special responsibility for primary care. On 3 September 2012, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin tabled a motion of no confidence in Minister for Health James Reilly, after yet more cuts in the health service.^[5] Shortall addressed the Dáil during this motion and did not indicate her support for him or mention his name once,^[6] though she did vote against the motion. She resigned as Minister of State on 26 September 2012, and also resigned the Parliamentary Labour Party whip.^[7]

Social Democrats

On 15 July 2015, Shortall launched the Social Democrats along with fellow Independent TDs Stephen Donnelly and Catherine Murphy, each of whom were co-leaders of the party.^[8] She was elected for that party at the 2016 general election and 2020 general election.

In February 2022 Shortall, as spokesperson for Health, introduced a bill in the Dáil to stop the practice of the HSE sending debt collectors to cancer patients in search of payment. The bill also sought an end to an inpatient charge of €80 per visit for chemo and radiotherapy, and also seeks to end extortionate parking fees. The government did not oppose the bill. Shortall opined that it was "frankly disgusting" that cancer patients were being pursued by debt collectors during one of the most difficult points in their lives. Each of the other opposition parties all praised the content of the bill and similarly expressed their dismay at the idea of debt collectors being used on cancer patients.^[9]^[10]

On 22 February 2023, Shortall and Murphy announced that they would step down as co-leaders of the Social Democrats.^[11] They were succeeded by Holly Cairns on 1 March.^[12] On 2 July 2024, she and Murphy both announced that they would not contest the next general election.^[13]