Willie O'Dea - Ministerial Career

Ministerial Career

In 1992 Albert Reynolds succeeded Charles Haughey as Fianna Fáil leader and following a widespread cabinet reshuffle O'Dea, became a Minister of State at the Department of Justice. Following the collapse of the Fianna Fáil-Labour Party coalition government in 1994 O'Dea found himself on the opposition benches. After the 1997 general election with the help of the Progressive Democrats, Fianna Fáil were back in government and O'Dea was appointed a Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science. Here he had responsibility for Adult Education and the School Transport Scheme. He oversaw reform and increased investment in adult education and back to school initiatives, starting with the launch of Green Paper in November 1998.

Following the 2002 general election O'Dea became Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform with special responsibility for Equality Issues. His main function during this period was the passage of the Disabilities Bill, which the Government had been forced to withdraw in early 2002 in the teeth of opposition from the disability sector. After a number of changes, including a form of the independent assessment of needs demanded by the disability organisations, O'Dea reintroduced the Bill in September 2004 along with an implementation package.

Following a cabinet reshuffle in September 2004 O'Dea became Minister for Defence. His tenure commenced as the army deafness compensation issue was starting to come to an end.

In November 2005 O'Dea encountered some controversy when he was photographed during a media event at the Curragh Camp pointing an automatic pistol at a photographer. The photo appeared on the front page of The Irish Times the following day. O'Dea apologised saying that it was not his intention to glamorise gun crime.

During his term as Minister for Defence, O'Dea prioritised two particular issues: the recruitment of more women to the Defence Forces and the promotion of more serving non-commissioned members to the commissioned ranks, often called "promotion from the ranks".

He also presided over Ireland's second tour in the Lebanon in late 2006 as part of UNIFIL 2 and participation in the EUFOR mission to Chad.