Position - Finance Minister
Incumbent - Brian Lenihan, age 51
Term: May 2008 until 2012.
Key facts:
-- A former justice minister, Lenihan took office in May 2008, when then-Finance Minister Brian Cowen was promoted to prime minister. He could continue in his role beyond the next parliamentary elections, scheduled for 2012, but his Fianna Fail party came in a distant third place in recent opinion polls, suggesting they will likely be voted out of office.
-- Lenihan has been the driving force behind Ireland's sharp fiscal reforms, which have pointed the way for other heavily indebted euro zone members and won the applause of investors. He is seen by most analysts as the natural successor to Cowen, and many say he would have already toppled the current prime minister had he not been diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. The cancer treatment has not got in the way of his essential duties so far.
-- Taking over as finance minister just as the country's 'Celtic Tiger' economy began to unravel, Lenihan had to deliver three budgets in just over a year, introducing harsh spending cuts and raising taxes in an attempt to get Europe's worst public finances under control.
-- Lenihan has also led the rescue of Ireland's banks, first shocking European partners with a unilateral guarantee for some 400 billion euros of bank liabilities in 2008 before bailing out the country's two largest lenders, nationalizing the third and taking charge of its two biggest building societies. Lenihan has also set up a 'bad bank' to cleanse balance sheets after years of risky lending.
-- A lawyer by profession and a former university lecturer of law, Lenihan was born into one of Ireland's premier political dynasties. Grandson, son, nephew and brother of four members of parliament from the dominant Fianna Fail party, he entered politics in 1995 as his late father, a former deputy prime minister, left after succumbing to illness.
-- Lenihan studied law at Dublin's Trinity College -- where he later lectured -- and Cambridge University. He is also a fluent French speaker.
-- Lenihan said in January this year that a blockage including cancerous material had been identified at the entrance to his pancreas. He later said treatment was proceeding satisfactorily.
-- Unlike Prime Minister Brian Cowen and the governing Fianna Fail party, Lenihan is quite popular among the electorate despite implementing swinging cuts in his time in office. A senior Fianna Fail source has told Reuters that if Lenihan returned to full health he would be put under severe pressure to mount a leadership challenge against Cowen. Keywords: IE/PROFILE FINMIN (padraic.halpin@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: padraic.halpin.reuters.com@reuters.net; +353 1 500 1504) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Incumbent - Brian Lenihan, age 51
Term: May 2008 until 2012.
Key facts:
-- A former justice minister, Lenihan took office in May 2008, when then-Finance Minister Brian Cowen was promoted to prime minister. He could continue in his role beyond the next parliamentary elections, scheduled for 2012, but his Fianna Fail party came in a distant third place in recent opinion polls, suggesting they will likely be voted out of office.
-- Lenihan has been the driving force behind Ireland's sharp fiscal reforms, which have pointed the way for other heavily indebted euro zone members and won the applause of investors. He is seen by most analysts as the natural successor to Cowen, and many say he would have already toppled the current prime minister had he not been diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. The cancer treatment has not got in the way of his essential duties so far.
-- Taking over as finance minister just as the country's 'Celtic Tiger' economy began to unravel, Lenihan had to deliver three budgets in just over a year, introducing harsh spending cuts and raising taxes in an attempt to get Europe's worst public finances under control.
-- Lenihan has also led the rescue of Ireland's banks, first shocking European partners with a unilateral guarantee for some 400 billion euros of bank liabilities in 2008 before bailing out the country's two largest lenders, nationalizing the third and taking charge of its two biggest building societies. Lenihan has also set up a 'bad bank' to cleanse balance sheets after years of risky lending.
-- A lawyer by profession and a former university lecturer of law, Lenihan was born into one of Ireland's premier political dynasties. Grandson, son, nephew and brother of four members of parliament from the dominant Fianna Fail party, he entered politics in 1995 as his late father, a former deputy prime minister, left after succumbing to illness.
-- Lenihan studied law at Dublin's Trinity College -- where he later lectured -- and Cambridge University. He is also a fluent French speaker.
-- Lenihan said in January this year that a blockage including cancerous material had been identified at the entrance to his pancreas. He later said treatment was proceeding satisfactorily.
-- Unlike Prime Minister Brian Cowen and the governing Fianna Fail party, Lenihan is quite popular among the electorate despite implementing swinging cuts in his time in office. A senior Fianna Fail source has told Reuters that if Lenihan returned to full health he would be put under severe pressure to mount a leadership challenge against Cowen. Keywords: IE/PROFILE FINMIN (padraic.halpin@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: padraic.halpin.reuters.com@reuters.net; +353 1 500 1504) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.