Education
University College Dublin.
University College Dublin.
She has been Minister for Social Protection since 2011. She is also a Teachta Dála (Territorial Decoration) for the Dublin West constituency. Burton was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1992 general election.
From 1995 to 1997, she was Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs.
She lost her seat at the 1997 general election but was re-elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2002 general election. She was deputy leader of the Labour Party under Eamon Gilmore between 2007 and 2014.
Burton is a native of the Stoneybatter area of Dublin. She was adopted by the Burtons as a baby and brought up in Inchicore.
Her adoptive father worked in the local iron foundry.
She is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. She has worked as a lecturer in Accountancy in the Dublin Institute of Technology and the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Burton first stood for election at the 1989 general election, when she stood as one of two Labour candidates in the Dublin Central constituency, failing to get elected.
At the local elections in 1991, she was elected to Dublin County Council for the Mulhuddart electoral area.
Burton was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1992 general election, representing Dublin West in the 27th Dáil. She was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Social Welfare in the Fianna Fáil–Labour Party coalition that was formed after that election.
Burton lost her seat at the 1997 general election to Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party. Joan was re-elected to Fingal County Council in the 1999 local elections, on this occasion winning a seat in the Castleknock electoral area.
She was re-elected to the Dáil for Dublin West at the 2002 general election.
She was then appointed the spokesperson on Finance. She was a candidate for the deputy leadership of the party in 2002, obtaining 24% of the first preference vote, but was unsuccessful. Burton became deputy leader of the Labour Party in September 2007.
She was re-elected to represent Dublin West at the 2011 general election, topping the poll on the 1st count with 9,627 votes, and was the first Territorial Decoration in the country to be elected for the 31st Dáil.
Labour polled badly at the 2014 local and European elections, leading to the resignation of Eamon Gilmore as leader. Burton announced her candidacy for the leadership to replace him.
The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, appointed her as Tánaiste on the same day. On her election she said that the Labour Party "would focus on social repair, and govern more with the heart".
She is the first woman to lead the Labour Party.
On 11 July, Burton announced the Labour Party cabinet ministers with party deputy leader Alan Kelly Territorial Decoration appointed as Minister for the Environment, Alex White Territorial Decoration as Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, January O"Sullivan Territorial Decoration as Minister for Education & Skills and Gerald Nash Territorial Decoration as Minister of State at Cabinet for Business and Employment. Brendan Howlin Territorial Decoration remained Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. Burton also remained in her current ministry at the Department of Social Protection.
With the breakdown of that coalition and establishment of a Rainbow Coalition between the Labour Party, Fine Gael and Democratic Left in early 1995, she became Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, a position she held until the coalition"s defeat at 1997 general election.