Mary Hanafin (born 1 June 1959) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport from 2010 to 2011, Deputy Leader of Fianna Fáil from January 2011 to March 2011, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation from January 2011 to March 2011, Minister for Social and Family Affairs from 2008 to 2011, Minister for Education and Science from 2004 to 2008, Government Chief Whip from 2002 to 2004 and Minister of State for Children from 2000 to 2002. She served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency from 1997 to 2011. She has served as a Councillor on Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council, representing the Blackrock local electoral area since May 2014. Early and personal life Hanafin was born in Thurles, County Tipperary, in 1959. She is the daughter of Des and Mona Hanafin. Des Hanafin was a businessman and Fianna Fáil Councillor, who later served as a Senator at various times for over twenty-five years between 1969 and 2002. Her brother John Hanafin was a member of Seanad Éireann from 2002 to 2011. Hanafin was educated at the Presentation Convent in Thurles and St. Patrick's College in Maynooth, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree. She subsequently worked as a secondary school teacher, teaching Irish and History in the Dominican College Sion Hill in Blackrock, Dublin. Hanafin also obtained a diploma in legal studies at the Dublin Institute of Technology. Hanafin married Eamon Leahy, a Senior Counsel, in 1985. He died suddenly on 17 July 2003, aged 46. The couple had no children. Early political career Hanafin was involved in politics from the age of 15. Her father Des Hanafin, as well as being a Senator for Fianna Fáil, was a founding member of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) and a staunch opponent of contraception, abortion and divorce. She joined Ógra Fianna Fáil aged fifteen and spoke at her first Ard Fheis two years later. Hanafin first became involved in national politics in 1980 when, at the age of twenty-one, she was elected to the Fianna Fáil national executive, the party's ruling body. She was elected to Dublin City Council at the 1985 local elections for the Rathmines local electoral area, but she unsuccessfully sought election to Dáil Éireann at the 1989 general election, standing in the Dublin South-East constituency. She lost her seat on Dublin City Council