Myra Barry: The young TD who realised she would not change the world
MYRA BARRY made history on two fronts when she was elected for the then Cork North East, now Cork East, constituency in a byelection in November 1979.
Her father, Dick Barry, was a long-serving TD and they became the first father and daughter combination to represent the same constituency in the same Dáil.
Her victory, which was one of two Fine Gael wins in byelections in Cork on the same day, represented a crushing defeat for the then Fianna Fáil taoiseach Jack Lynch in his native county. The byelection losses led to renewed pressure on Lynch from backbenchers and he stood down as taoiseach the following month. He was succeeded by Charlie Haughey.
A native of Fermoy, Barry was a 22-year-old national schoolteacher when elected to the Dáil.
She seemed destined for a long career and ministerial office after topping the poll in her constituency.
Active in Young Fine Gael and a liberal on social issues, she was the kind of candidate the then party leader, Garret FitzGerald, was encouraging to run for the Dáil. She served on the committee on women’s rights and the New Ireland Forum and busied herself with constituency work.
She might have been considered for a junior ministry in the FitzGerald-led FG-Labour coalition of 1982 to 1987, but her Fine Gael constituency colleague, Paddy Hegarty, was a minister of state for agriculture. She caused huge surprise when she announced her retirement from politics in advance of the 1987 general election, when she was not yet 30 years old.
She realised, she says, she was not going to change the world as a member of the Dáil and she decided she could make a contribution to society in other areas.
Barry went on to qualify as a clinical psychologist and now works in Temple Street children’s hospital, Dublin.
She is a member of her local Fine Gael branch in Dublin and canvasses for the party at election time.