Nuala Fennell
# Nuala Fennell

Nuala Fennell (née Campbell; 25 November 1935 – 11 August 2009) was an Irish Fine Gael politician, economist and activist who served as Minister of State from December 1982 to January 1987 with responsibility for Women's Affairs and Family Law. She served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South from 1981 to 1987 and 1989 to 1992. She also served as a Senator from 1987 to 1989.

## Early life

Born Fionnuala Campbell in north County Dublin on 25 November 1935, the third eldest child of Patrick Campbell, from the rural east County Galway area of Lisheennavannoge, one of the earliest Garda recruits, and his wife Elizabeth (née Roberts), from Glasnevin, Dublin. Fennell had two sisters and three brothers. She met her future husband, Brian Fennell, at the Templeogue Tennis Club, and they emigrated in 1957 to Montreal, Canada, where they were both employed by the Sun Life Company. The couple returned to Dublin and were married in 1958. Fennell took up secretarial employment in a legal firm in Dublin, at a time when married women were frowned upon for working. The couple had three children.

## Activist

Fennell was a leading Women's Rights campaigner in the 1970s when she was part of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement, from which she resigned due to differences of policy in 1971. Fennell was involved in setting up the first refuge for "battered women" in Dublin. She was involved in the 1975 campaign for the right to divorce in Ireland. In 1972, she helped found Action, Information and Motivation (AIM), a pressure group campaigning for women's equality in marriage. In 1975, Fennell also became an executive member of the Council for the Status of Women.

## Politics

At the 1977 general election, Fennell stood as an independent candidate for the Dublin County South constituency, but was not elected. She was elected at the 1981 general election to the 22nd Dáil, as a Fine Gael TD for Dublin South. After the election, Fine Gael entered into a coalition government with the Labour Party, and Fennell was a prominent Fine Gael backbencher.

Fianna Fáil formed a short-lived following the February 1982 election, but Fine Gael was returned to office later that year following the November 1982 election and Fennell was appointed Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach and Minister of State at the Department of Justice, with responsibly for Women's Affairs and Family Law.

She lost her seat at the 1987 general election, and was nominated by the Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald to the 17th Seanad, in his last days serving as Taoiseach. She was then elected to the 18th Seanad on the Labour Panel. At the 1989 general election, she was returned to the 26th Dáil, but retired from politics at the 1992 general election.

