Eamon Gilmore (born 24 April 1955) is a European Union diplomat, and a former Irish Labour Party politician. He serves as European Union Special Representative for Human Rights since February 2019. He is also the European Union Special Envoy for the Colombian Peace Process since 2015. He was Ireland's Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2011 to 2014, Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2014, Chair of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe from 2012 to 2013, Minister of State at the Department of the Marine from 1994 to 1997. He was a Teachta Dála for the Dún Laoghaire constituency from 1989 to 2016. At the 2011 general election he led the Labour Party to its best electoral performance, with a record 37 Dáil seats. Labour entered into a coalition government with Fine Gael, with Gilmore being appointed Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. As Minister for Foreign Affairs he led Ireland's seventh presidency of the European Council during the first half of 2013. Throughout 2012, he held the role of Chairperson-In-Office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Born in County Galway, Gilmore graduated from University College Galway (UCG), becoming President of the Union of Students in Ireland. Later, he entered local politics and worked as a trade union organiser. As a Democratic Left TD, he helped to negotiate that party's merger with Labour. Gilmore was elected unopposed as Labour Party leader in 2007; he resigned the post in July 2014, and was succeeded by Joan Burton. Early life and career Eamon Gilmore was born into a small farming family in Caltra, County Galway in 1955. When he was 14 months old his father died, leaving his mother to run the mixed farm and raise Gilmore and his younger brother John. Gilmore received his primary education in Caltra, in a small two-teacher national school. He was taught there through the medium of Irish, and he is a fluent Irish speaker to this day. Following his sixth-year state primary exam, he qualified for a scholarship from Galway County Council which enabled him to attend secondary school. He entered Garbally College, Ballinasloe, as a boarder in 1967. Availing himself of a third-level grant to fund his degree, he went on to study psychology at UCG. He was an active member of the Drama Society at the university, where his