Nora Owen

Nora Owen
Minister for Justice
In office 15 December 1994 – 26 June 1997
Taoiseach	John Bruton
Preceded by	Máire Geoghegan-Quinn
Succeeded by	John O'Donoghue
Deputy Leader of Fine Gael
In office 15 December 1993 – 9 February 2001
Leader	John Bruton
Preceded by	Peter Barry
Succeeded by	Jim Mitchell
Teachta Dála
In office June 1981 – February 1987
In office June 1989 – May 2002
Constituency	Dublin North
Personal details
Born	Nora Rita O'Mahony (1945-06-01) 1 June 1945 Malahide, Dublin, Ireland
Political party	Fine Gael
Spouse	Brian Owen (m. 1968)
Relations	Mary Banotti (sister)
Children	3
Alma mater	University College Dublin

Nora Rita Owen (née O'Mahony; born 1 June 1945) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Minister for Justice from 1994 to 1997 and Deputy Leader of Fine Gael from 1993 to 2001. She was a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin North from 1981 to 1987 and from 1989 to 2002.

She was a presenter of TV3's topical programme Midweek.

Early life

Nora O'Mahony was born in Dublin in 1945. She is a sister of Mary Banotti and a grandniece of the Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins. She was educated at Dominican Convent, County Wicklow and University College Dublin (UCD) where she qualified as an industrial chemist.

Political career

Owen was first elected to Dublin County Council in 1979 for the Malahide local electoral area. She was later elected as a Fine Gael TD for the first time in 1981, serving until the 1987 election when she lost her seat. That year she became a member of the executive of Trócaire. She returned to Dáil Éireann in 1989 becoming Deputy Leader of Fine Gael in 1993. The following year she became Minister for Justice, remaining in that post until 1997. Journalist Veronica Guerin was murdered in 1996 and in its aftermath Owen introduced the highly successful Criminal Assets Bureau to crack down on organised crime. In 2002 she became the first high-profile Fine Gael TD to lose her seat in Dublin North in the party's disastrous general election.

Post-political life

Owen is the patron of the Collins 22 Society, which works to keep the memory and legacy of Michael Collins in living memory. She occasionally works as an election pundit. In August 2011, it was announced she was to present the Irish version of Mastermind on TV3. In February 2012 she was made a Vice President of the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland.

External links

• Michael Collins 22 Society webpage