in 1991 and became involved in the running of the Fianna Fáil party. She was elected as national treasurer in 1993. Hanafin is also a former president of the National Youth Council of Ireland. Dáil career Hanafin was elected to the Dáil on her second attempt, at the 1997 general election for the Dún Laoghaire constituency. In her first few years as a TD she served on a number of Oireachtas committees, including Education and Science, Heritage and the Irish language and Justice, Equality and Women's Affairs. In 2000, Hanafin was appointed Minister of State for Children. She topped the poll in her constituency at the 2002 general election and was appointed to the position of Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach; also a junior (non-cabinet) ministry, but with special responsibility as Government Chief Whip. She was the first woman to hold this position. Minister for Education and Science Hanafin was appointed as Minister for Education and Science in a cabinet reshuffle in September 2004. She abandoned the compilation of school league tables begun by her predecessor Noel Dempsey. She prioritised school bus safety following the death of five schoolgirls near Navan, County Meath, in 2005. This has mandated the provision of one seat per child and of the mandatory use of seatbelts in school buses. In 2005 she initiated vastly increased funding and staffing for children with special needs. She announced plans for a possible change of entry requirements to third-level medical education. Hanafin was accused of bias towards private fee-paying schools in her constituency when awarding building grants to them in 2005. Christian Brothers College, Monkstown Park, and St. Andrew's College both received building grants for extensions and works on their buildings. Only Belvedere College, Kilkenny College and Loreto Beaufort, Rathfarnham, had previously received money since 1995. Diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks revealed that in 2005 Hanafin had briefed the American Ambassador to Ireland on government coalition negotiations. She criticized her Green Party coalition colleagues saying that they wanted to prioritize "hares, stags and badgers while everyone else in the country is drowning in this economy". In February 2008, it emerged that Hanafin, while Government Chief Whip, had assisted poet Cathal Ó Searcaigh to obtain an Irish visa for a Nepalese youth. The allegations were contained in the documentary Fairytale of Kathmandu. Hanafin, who admitted being friends with Ó Searcaigh for many years, dismissed the